


The Soldier

by shupshup



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-05-21 23:28:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6062116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shupshup/pseuds/shupshup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were not a fairy tale. They were the collision of a thousand stars destined for a calamitous fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I blocked the fist that was heading towards me with a forearm and began my attack. My pulled punches quickly found their mark on his jaw and temple before I stopped and stepped back.

"Again." He commanded as we broke apart, his fists coming up into position. I lifted my hands in response and closely observed his body language, anticipating his next move. His tongue became visible as it pressed down into his lower lip. His face was full of concentration as we slowly circled each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. He had the advantage in height, towering over me by almost a full foot, which would have been intimidating if I didn't have full knowledge of how to counter his moves from our months of training.

Suddenly, his right leg shot out to kick at my side. I grabbed his ankle with both hands and tugged, causing Braden to lose his balance which allowed me to pull him harshly to the ground. He landed unceremoniously on his backside, a large breath was exhaled through his teeth. I remained tense above him, keeping my position as he pouted for a moment at his defeat before an easy smile flashed across his face. "Good," he commented, "you're learning more each day."

I grimaced in response, relaxed my stance, and pushed a piece of hair that had managed to escape my pony tail behind my ear before I extended a hand to help him up.

"But clearly not enough."

Braden's tone changed just as fast as his actions. He yanked down on my hand while simultaneously slamming his feet against my thighs, causing me to flip over his head and land harshly on my back. He was quick to pin both my arms above my head while using the weight of his torso to constrain my body, both of his legs stretched out on either side of my hips. "Give up?" Braden teased, his voice and breath warm and close to my ear.

"Never!" I gasped, struggling to find a weakness in his tight grip, kicking my legs in an effort to gain any purchase on the ground to throw him off and relieve the pressure on my chest.

"Hmm," He mused, "we'll see about that." Braden gave a wicked grin and my shrieks filled the room as he started tickling my sides.

"If you two are done messing around, Anderson wants to see both of you in his office." The voice at the door stopped Braden's actions and he rolled off me, the grin quickly disappearing from his face. Veronica, Anderson's assistant, stood in the doorway with pursed lips, crossed arms, and disapproving eyes. Embarrassed to be caught in such an awkward position, I shot to my feet and rearranged my clothing, brushing off the non-existent dirt. We followed Veronica out of the room without a word or a glance at each other.

We walked down the long halls to Anderson's office. My bare feet stuck to the tile floors and made a suction noise with every step. The low, constant murmur of voices and fingers against computer keyboards in the control and observation rooms we passed sounded muffled compared to the harsh clacks of Veronica's stilettos. She strode before us a few feet ahead, leading the way.

Braden could sense my nervous silence. "I'm sure it's nothing." He tried to reassure me. "We're still a long way away from entering the city. You're not ready. We still have time." I nodded but was not comforted at his words. Meetings with Anderson had become a rare event since Braden had been put in charge of my training. Whatever was happening, it was something important and nothing he said could make the restless butterflies in my stomach go away.

Sooner than I would have liked, we arrived in a familiar hallway. The heavy wooden door was an unwelcome sight and a reminder of the past interrogations and uncomfortable conversations that had taken place inside that room. Veronica softly knocked on the door and a deep voice responded, telling us to enter. "Sir," Veronica informed the man behind the desk, "they're here."

Anderson looked up from a tablet he was intently studying to make eye contact with us. "Yes, of course, thank you Veronica." There was no emotion in his face as Anderson spoke these words and he put the device down and gestured to the seats in front of the desk. "Please have a seat, Braden and Olivia." I followed Braden into the room and sat down beside him, my fingers immediately digging into the armrests out of habit and anxiety. "How is the training going, son?" Anderson's question wasn't directed at me.

Braden cleared his throat before answering. "Very well, sir. She's mastered almost everything that we can with our current resources, and can almost take me on in a fight." He flashed me a small grin but I could barely feel the muscles on my face let alone be able to find the ability to move them to form a smile at my friend.

"Good." Anderson leaned back in his chair and rested his hands on his stomach. "This is wonderful news because due to unforeseen circumstances, things are speeding up far more quicker than we had initially anticipated."

My fingers stopped digging into the furniture as my body became frozen to the chair. I already knew what he was going to say and my heart began to thud in my chest. I don't want to leave.

Braden had a shocked and pained expression on his face. "I know that the situation is tense within the city right now but I thought we were scheduled to begin next year?"

His father shot him quick, disapproving look at his reaction before he continued. "The Bureau is afraid that the mission cannot wait another year. Our informant has done an excellent job so far in relocating the Divergent to the outside, but it is not possible for her to find the Divergent, fulfill her responsibilities within Abnegation, and also keep an eye on Matthews. Jeanine Matthews has increased her search of the Divergent and has recently enlisted the help of several Dauntless leaders. What we need is a mole within Dauntless as soon as possible to prevent any hazardous repercussions that may arise in the collaboration between Matthews and Dauntless. By this time next year it may be impossible to stop Matthews in her plan to destroy the Divergent. The damage she can do in one year and the loss of even one genetically pure individual would be too much for the experiment."

Still recovering from the chastisement from his father, Braden was quiet and let any resistance that remained towards this new series of events melt from his face. The Bureau of Genetic Welfare had plenty of eyes and ears within the city with the thousands of cameras and unlimited security tapes, but there were zones in the city where there was no footage and there were conversations that could not be listened to. A soldier to operate missions and follow orders was what the Bureau needed, and that was what I was being trained to become.

"Our team has already inserted Olivia's information into the Erudite database. Starting tomorrow you will be known as Olivia Kaiser, a 16-year-old Erudite-born daughter to Joseph and Marie Kaiser." Anderson slid the tablet he had been studying when we entered his office in front of me. I stared at the bright screen, not focusing my eyes to read the information. Braden's curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to take the tablet. I took some even breaths before I leaned over and watched him slide his finger through various documents of blinding color and small text.

The first thing he stopped at was a birth certificate that listed everything from my blood type to the name of the doctor that had delivered me. Beneath this was a picture of a man and a woman with their arms around two girls. One of the girls was young teenager, perhaps 13 years of age, and the other one was me. My face was relaxed and my smile was happy but it was extremely abnormal to see myself squished in a loving embrace between these strangers. Whether these people actually existed or whether they were just a trick of computer animation, I didn't know. My faux family. I stared into the eyes of my new sister until I had to look away towards the wall, the butterflies in my stomach turning into bricks.

Braden pointed to the photograph of the happy family and smiled. "Hey, you have a sister! At least now you'll get the sibling that you've always wanted." His attempt at light-hearted humor did not amuse me. The physical appearance of the heavily doctored lie in front of me was becoming too much. I had managed to resist thinking about the upcoming mission by immersing myself into my training, but the day I had been dreading was here, and a full year ahead of schedule. The photograph in front of me was a rough reminder that I was immensely underqualified and unprepared.

I shot another quick, dazed look at the picture before I shook myself out of my torpid state and frowned at the desk. "I'm not ready." I half-whispered both to myself and to the man who sat across from me. My voice grew stronger and louder as I expressed my concerns. "There is still so much to learn. I haven't experienced the simulation serum or my fear landscape and I have yet to study the Dauntless leaders or the layout of the compound--" The words stopped in my throat as it closed with emotion.

The lines on Anderson's forehead creased as he furrowed his brow. "So what? You'll fit right in with the other Dauntless transfers." His words fell heavy upon my shoulders, making it more difficult to breath. My throat continued to tighten and I felt hot tears pooling up in my eyes. I quickly blinked to erase the foreign tears and made the room come back into focus. Losing my composure in front of a top Bureau council member would be mortifying and unacceptable to say the least. Anderson spoke again. "You need to realize the importance of what we are going to accomplish. This is no longer about you, Olivia, this involves me and everybody else in the Bureau. The success of this organization and the experiment of Chicago rests upon your ability to be a good foot soldier and follow orders. The amount of training that you've received doesn't matter anymore and you're going to have to work extra hard during initiation to ensure a top leadership position. You are going into the city tomorrow and picking Dauntless at the choosing ceremony whether you feel like you're ready to or not. That is not an order and I will not repeat myself on this. Do I make myself clear?" His voice increased in volume with each sentence and was full of authority.

I knew when I had accepted this job to go undercover within the city that it would be dangerous, but that didn't stop the current anxiety I felt wash over me. I quickly reprimanded myself at the panic I was feeling. I straightened my spine and removed my fingernails from the upholstery as I forced myself to accept the change of plans. I am supposed to distance myself from my emotions and be adaptable. I am supposed to be the perfect soldier under the control of The Bureau of Genetic Welfare. There could be no resistance. Therefore, I quickly nodded my head and stared back unblinking into his cold eyes while I tucked my hand underneath my leg to pinch myself in the thigh to keep my voice blasé. "Yes, sir," I answered.

Anderson sighed at the deafening silence he had created in the room after his outburst. "You're naturally brave, Olivia. Initiation will be a breeze and Dauntless will fit you like a glove. Hell, we all know you've been through a lot worse."

I kept my silence, not finding any comfort in his words. Anderson lifted the corners of his mouth, his smile was stiff and forced. "Go, study your new identity and get some rest. Be outside the compound at a quarter to 7 and be ready for immediate departure. Braden, you will accompany Miss Kaiser into the city tomorrow to make sure that the transition runs smoothly. I know I can count on you. That's it, you are both dismissed."

With a wave of his father's hand, Braden jumped up, grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room. When the door shut behind us, he released me and began raking his hands through his hair as we walked back to the main section of the compound.

"This is fine. We'll be fine." He told me, his fingers leaving behind red marks as he moved his hand down his face. I stared down at my bare feet as I followed his quick pace down the hallway. We stopped at one of the open-access printers and printed out a thick stack of papers containing all the information that was on his father's tablet.

A little while later, we sat cross-legged on my bed with empty containers of food and papers spread across the sheets, reading and trying to absorb as much data as possible. Braden held up a stack of documents in front of his face. "When is your birthday?" He asked, quizzing me on the details of my new identity.

"June 21," I yawned as I answered, "that's easy, give me a harder question."

"Alright." He shuffled through the papers until he found what he was looking for. "What kind of underwear are you wearing?"

I gaped at him. "The file doesn't contain that type of information!"

"Yes it does!" He protested, holding the paper above his head as I attempted to snatch it. I grabbed his forearm and was able to move his arm low enough to grab the paper before he was able to switch it to his other hand. He hadn't been lying, the question was there, but it was written in on the bottom with black pen in a handwriting that looked suspiciously familiar.

"Okay, you wrote that!" I accused him, laughing as I threw the paper back at him.

"That is neither here nor there, answer the question, Miss Kaiser," he wiggled his eyebrows at me, using the same commanding tone that his father had used when he had spoken to me earlier.

I rolled my eyes but grinned. Braden was a nice distraction from thinking about tomorrow and whatever laid beyond that, for now it was fun to be casual and to joke around with my friend. I thought for a second. "Black." I said, trying to keep a straight face as I stared back into his dark brown eyes.

Braden smiled at my reply but clicked his tongue and shook his head in objection. "I'm afraid that is incorrect. The answer we were looking for was 'thong' but we would have accepted 'nothing at all.'"

I had to cover my mouth to keep my laugh from becoming too loud and he tried to smother his as well. It was getting late and I was sure my neighbors were asleep. We couldn't afford to receive anymore noise complaints especially since the last time Braden had tried to throw a party it resulted in a week of scrubbing toilets and even though I had no I was forced to join him, guilty by association.

Braden's voice got quieter as he switched topics. "It's probably a good thing that they're not postponing this mission any longer. We're already pushing it as it is, but next year you definitely won't look 16."

He was right, I hadn't been 16 for two years. They seemed to think I could get away with it and they needed someone more mature to pull something like this off, but next year it would be a lot harder for an 19-year-old to pass as that young. I would stick out like a sore thumb in a place where camouflage is key.

"I can't believe I leave tomorrow." I sighed, organizing the documents about my fictional past beside me on the bed into one pile, and then rubbed my eye with my palm. "It seems like it was just yesterday that you were trying to dodge my ricocheting knives." I grinned up at him at the memory of our disastrous first training session. Luckily the only thing lost that day was our tempers, and not any fingers.

He beamed as he remembered, although the smile didn't reach his eyes. "We both knew this day was coming, even if it seems like a shock now. You'll do great, Olivia. You're practically done with your training and you'll pass initiation in a breeze."

I couldn't help but frown at his false cheerfulness. "You told me earlier this evening that I wasn't ready."

His smile fell as he saw the anxiety building in my eyes. Braden leaned across the covers to wrap me in a tight hug, my face buried in his shoulder. In the wake of our fading words, a more somber mood had fallen upon the room. I could tell that we were both thinking about how this was our final night together as friends, the night before everything changed. We would no longer be trainer and trainee, tomorrow I will be a soldier under the command of the Bureau and he'll would go back to his job of assisting the council members. "I wish I could go with you," his voice came from above my head, "it's going to be awful stuck out here watching you have all the fun."

"You can go, I'll give up my position." I offered half-jokingly. The Bureau would never go for that. We abandoned our studying, leaning back against the headboard with his arm draped loosely across my shoulders.

"My father and the other council members would love that. No, we won't throw away all our hard work. You were chosen because you're less conspicuous, nobody will expect you to be a spy. You may appear innocent, but, all thanks to me, you're actually a super secret deadly weapon that will kick major ass." He winked at me before he continued, "I, on the other hand, wear my ass-kicking skills on my sleeve would have a big neon flashing sign above my head that says 'traitor' with an arrow pointing down." But even as he spoke this his eyes lit up at the thought of the mission and becoming Dauntless.

I smiled at the awkwardness I felt at his words. I knew that Braden admired Dauntless, their bravery and their fierce loyalty with each other had attracted me to their lifestyle as well. Braden is always up for a challenge and was devastated when he was denied for the assignment and the task went to me, someone he had never seen or interacted with before. Yet somehow over the past few months of training he had changed his bitter attitude and had become the first person from the Bureau that I could honestly call my friend.

I was also chosen to be sent into the city because I was dispensable. The chances of serious injury or death for this type of mission was high and, compared to the loss of a valued member in their society, my death wouldn't be that much of a hassle for the Bureau. There is surprisingly a lot less paperwork to complete when the deceased has no family members and no possessions to leave behind. I could be easily replaced. I didn't bring this up with Braden and let silence fill the room. He rubbed my arm in comforting circles. "It's okay to be scared. God knows I am. What am I supposed to do around here without you and your chicken arms to protect me?" I smiled because I knew he was trying to make me feel better. It was a habit I had noticed of his, to cover his feelings in humor.

"Are you even sure this is you?" Braden asked me, reaching over and picking up the photograph I had been studying before in Anderson's office of my new family and me. "I hope whoever did this got paid overtime because it must have taken forever to make you look this happy."

"Haha!" I replied, snatching the photo from his hand and rolling my eyes.

"Honestly," He said, leaning his head back against the headboard. "You'll fit into Dauntless perfectly. You've already mastered the 'fuck off' look with your face."

I shoved his shoulder playfully and let out a laugh as he was caught off guard and had to put out an arm to keep from falling off the bed. "It's late," I reminded him. Sobering up to the fact that tomorrow was only in a couple of hours.

"Right. I should go check on how everything else is coming together." I walked him to the door of my apartment, which was in connection with the compound and was originally a room in a hotel. "See you in the morning, Sunshine." He called over his shoulder.

"Goodnight." I shut the door quietly behind him and moved the papers off my sheets before I turned off the light and snuggled into bed beneath the covers. Joining Dauntless both excited and scared me. I was excited to continue training in Dauntless as I had enjoyed my time with Braden by spending my days shooting guns and hitting things. I was also excited because I was going to be entering the city that I had been fascinated with. I had spent a considerable amount of my free time in front of the screens, captivated at the society before my eyes that was so unaware about how simplistic and precious their lives were. My need to protect their innocence by having the experiment continue had been one of the primary reasons as to why I agreed to be the spy the Bureau needed.

I was afraid of the uncertainty before me. I had no idea what my life was about to become. Anderson had said several times in the early stages of this operation that failure wasn't an option, I was coming home when Jeanine Matthews was no longer a threat to the Divergent, or not at all. Whether this was going to last for months or for years, I didn't know. I was scared to leave behind my life here at the compound, a place that I was beginning to call home, without knowing when I would be allowed to come back.

As I laid in my bed looking at the ceiling, thoughts and the memories of today's events played over in my head. My gaze moved across the apartment, memorizing the details. I wasn't sure when I would be back sleeping in this bed. I read the bright red numbers on the clock on the nightstand beside me and was surprised at the time. There was only a couple of hours until I would leave this room and this compound to enter an unfamiliar city and faction as a soldier under the Bureau of Genetic Welfare's control. I knew the following hours would pass with little sleep and I would be exhausted tomorrow.

All the emotions I felt today came crashing back and I let the tears that I refused let fall in Anderson's office slide down both sides of my face and onto my pillow.

Well, shit.


	2. Choosing

Two Erudites stood next to each other outside of The Hub as a constant flow of people moved in front of them to go through the open doors and into the building. They huddled together, distant from the crowd, not speaking, looking away from each other and at those around them. To any curious onlooker, they could have been brother and sister as the thin, tall Erudites had similar brown hair. An Abnegation woman, after some words to her family, left the mass of people in grey clothing getting off the bus and crossed in front of the building to the pair of Erudites. They stepped apart to welcome the new member into the group.

It was bizarre being in the city, standing in front of familiar structures and being passed by people that I remember seeing on surveillance footage. It was even more surreal to see Natalie Prior in person. Back at the Bureau she was an anomaly, a hero. The things that she has done to help preserve the experiment are legendary and it was a honor to be standing in her presence. She smiled at me and gave Braden a nod of recognition. "You're Anderson's son right? You're a spitting image of him from when I last saw him all those years ago."

Braden returned her nod but kept silent, rearranging the glasses that were threatening to fall of his nose. I could tell he was uncomfortable being in the city and interacting with the subjects of the experiment. This morning he had grown quieter the closer we drove to the city, his lips pressed into a firm, straight line from the moment we passed through the fence.

"Right, time is short. I'll be brief." She stopped the small talk and focused her attention on me. "The greatest proportion of Divergent are among the factionless, but for now Jeanine is focusing her attention on those living within the factions. I'll contact you if I have any leads but for now keep your eyes open in Dauntless. The simulations are normally when the Divergent start to manifest themselves so stay vigilant to those around you." She reached out to touch my arm, her soft, motherly tone just as warm as her hand. "Good luck choosing and look out for yourself, I know the faction can be a little rough sometimes. My children will be making their decision next year." She smiled and looked back at the three figures that were waiting for her, their forms grey blobs from this distance, making it almost impossible to make out any distinctive features but I could tell there was a man and two teenagers, a boy and a girl.

She gave us one last smile before she headed back to her faction. I wondered if I was looking at my future as Natalie rejoined her waiting family members. Would I still be here in 20 years, Dauntless and with a family of my own? An image flashed across my mind of a toddler sitting on the shoulders of a heavily tattooed man in black. I dismissed the thought, I couldn't wrap my head around something as complex as that right now. I needed to concentrate on getting through today.

After her departure, Braden turned his body toward me but his head was still turned to the side, scanning the crowd, wary that anybody was paying attention to us. "Listen, once you're inside, I'll go to the Dauntless compound and hide the tablet along with the other supplies."

I nodded, wondering why Braden was telling me information I already knew. Maybe he was nervous and saying the plan out loud made him somewhat more confident. "They'll be in the supply closet next to the training room on the third floor, only check the tablet when you're sure that nobody will notice your disappearance. It will be loaded with a map of the compound as well as any information about necessary Dauntless members. Make sure you read up on that." He advised. I also knew all of this already but I nodded my head again.

He looked down at me. "Send us a message as soon as you can to let us know that you're safely within the compound."

It had been comical to see Braden as the perfect little Erudite in the blue clothes and the glasses but now my throat tightened with emotion as I saw the glisten of tears in his eyes. Saying goodbye was clearly going to be as hard on him as it was going to be on me. I attempted to swallow as he blinked back the tears. "Well, I better get going. We should be in contact within the next few days. Remember to be a good little soldier, Miss Kaiser, and kick some ass."

My heart dropped in my chest at his farewell. This could be the last time I would ever see Braden. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him down into a tight hug and allowed a small sob to rip through my body. He wrapped his arms around me, one hand holding the briefcase that contained all the materials that I would need and the black clothes that he would change into to be able to sneak into the Dauntless compound to plant the supplies. I gave my friend a tight squeeze before I let go, turning around and quickly entering the Hub. As I walked I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve to remove any tears. I was a mess, it had been a restless night and I'm sure I had the bags under my eyes to prove it.

Being one of the last people to enter the room, I found an empty chair at the end of the row in the Erudite section and sat down. As soon as I had taken my seat, a voice at the front of the room commanded silence. Dauntless was in charge of hosting the Choosing Ceremony this year and a Dauntless leader with tattoos on his arms, who introduced himself as Eric, wasted no time in starting a rehearsed speech about the reason behind the different factions and the importance of faction before blood. I smiled, amused at the bunch of shit he was reciting, but other than that I barely paid attention to his words and dug my fingernails into armrest of the chair and tried to calm myself.

The pain in my chest from saying goodbye to Braden was beginning to subside and it took a lot of effort to push him out of my thoughts. Right now I needed to concentrate on the mission. I need to become a chameleon among the initiates. My instructions throughout the initiation process were to blend in among my peers, but to also have a good enough score by the end to get a decent leadership position. Not many doors can be opened if I have to spend the majority of my time on duty patrolling the fence.

"Olivia Kaiser."

I shook myself out of my disassociation when the Dauntless leader called my name. My legs were numb as I walked down the stairs and up to the front of the auditorium. With shaking hands I took the knife offered and sliced the middle of my hand. A little too deep, but my brain barely registered the sting of the cut as the blood pooled up in my palm. I squeezed my hand into a fist and moved forward, opening my hand above the bowl to my left and let my blood sizzle upon the coals.

Roars of approval responded to my action and I pressed a white bandage that was offered against the cut on my hand. I rushed off the stage as I moved towards my new faction and new family. I was welcomed warmly by the heavily pierced and tattooed group and after several pats on the back, they made room for me along the front row where my knees bounced restlessly while the rest of the teens were called to the front to make their decisions.

At the end of the ceremony, the Dauntless were quick to their feet and quick out the door. I kept up with with the group as they sprinted and hollered down the stairs and out into the streets. In the distant, a train approached as we neared the tracks. I followed the example of those around me and ran alongside the train, pumping my arms as I gained speed towards an open door. This was more physically exhausting than I had previously thought, but I haven't been working my ass off for months to miss the damn train so I used my frustration as the extra fuel needed to get the momentum to throw myself sideways. I started pulling myself into the car when a hand reached out to grab my wrist and guided me inside.

Out of breath from the running and the surprise of the sudden physical contact, I took deep breaths to calm my racing heart. "Thanks," I told the Candor girl that helped me in. She shrugged, tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear and moved away from the open door to stand against the opposite side of the train. I rubbed the back of my neck as I followed her to lean on the cool metal of the train.

Another Candor transfer, a boy with pale skin plastered with freckles and blonde hair so pale that it looked white, moved into my space. "I see you've met Jenna. Don't be put off by her silence, it's been running in her family ever since their father ran off with his secretary a couple months ago. I'm Calvin by the way." He extended his hand and I raised my eyebrows at his words. I knew that the Candor were brutally honest but this personal confession was shocking.

I shook the outstretched hand and smiled. "Olivia."

"Nice to meet you, Olivia. Do you come here often?" He asked, gesturing around the train car at the other initiates and the buildings that whizzed past us.

I laughed. "As often as I can, I can't resist the smell of rusting metal and having my skin scrapped off." I touched my elbow and inspected the skin that had been rubbed raw from my endeavor of getting on the train.

"That doesn't look so bad," Jenna told me as she pointed to my arm, "and I'm sure that you'll be able to get on the train easier with practice."

"It speaks!" Calvin exclaimed in mock surprise at her words.

She squinted her eyes at him, "Of course I can talk, but we're not all loud-mouthed Candor that get so excited to talk for a biology presentation that we throw up."

"That only happened twice!" He protested. I smiled, amused at their interaction and allowed their voices to lull into the background as I relaxed against the wall behind me. The first test of today was over, but to be successful in Dauntless I was going to need connections and resources. This pair of Candor may be loud and eager to share information, but that could be useful. They seemed harmless and good company so I made a mental note to stick with them.

An exclamation from the front of the train startled me from my thoughts.

"They're jumping!"

I took a couple steps to the train's doors and held onto the side so I could lean my body out and get a look at what they were talking about. Those in the front train cars were flying from the train and landing on top of a passing building. My new acquaintances were also witnessing the spectacle, Calvin's face was animated with excitement but Jenna's face was hard and her lips turned white as they pressed together. I gave her a small smile as we headed towards the opposite side of the car to get a running head start. The three of us burst from the open doors at the same time and sailed through the air onto the rooftop.

I flew through the air, my clothes and hair whipping away from me as the air pushed back in opposition. I landed hard on the rooftop and rolled across the gravel from the impact. Standing up and brushing myself off, I become painfully aware of a stinging sensation. A hole was torn in my pant leg and I was sure I had a scrapped knee. We weren't even inside the compound and I had already gotten multiple injuries. I expected nothing less from Dauntless and should be grateful this was all that had happened because I had heard a Dauntless-born initiate cry out for his ankle as he landed.

I soon forgot about my ripped pants. The clothes I was wearing didn't belong to me and I knew that they will be traded for real Dauntless clothes. It was getting hot up here on the rooftop with the sun blaring down on my navy blazer and I looked forward to trading it in for something black and cool. We followed the group of initiates as they began to assemble themselves in front of a group of men who I assumed were Dauntless leaders. One of the leaders starting talking as soon as everyone was gathered together.

"Welcome to Dauntless. My name is Max." He introduced himself. Max looked to be the oldest and spoke with such authority that I assumed he was the main leader and quickly memorized his features. The sudden change of plans yesterday left me uninformed of the necessary characterizations of the Dauntless leaders so I would have to learn this information fast. "Congratulations on making it this far, the next step is to enter the compound and the only way to do that is to jump." He moved a hand to motion at the empty space between the buildings. "Who's first?"

The following silence answered his question. The resistance among the initiates was tangible, nobody wanted to be the first to speak up. I may not know a lot about the Dauntless compound or about the Dauntless leaders, but I knew about this part of the initiation. There was a net at the bottom to catch us and if I wasn't so worried about blending into the group, I would have offered to jump first to be able to move on to the next activity. The first jumper gets remembered so I kept quiet, not wanting any recognition.

As the seconds ticked by, it was getting difficult to keep my silence so I bit my bottom lip and stared down at my feet, shifting the rocks around with my shoe. Can someone just fucking volunteer already?

"Don't everyone speak at once." A voice teased and the familiar sound caused my head to shoot up. It was the Dauntless leader that had spoken at the Choosing Ceremony, Eric, and his tattooed arms were crossed in disapproval. Now that my head was clearer I could see that he had tattoos on his neck along with piercings along the top of his eyebrow and in both of his ears. He shared the same tattoos on his neck with Max so I guessed it probably symbolized leadership or manliness or some bullshit. It was surprising to see how young he was compared to the other Dauntless leaders, he couldn't have been more than a couple years older than me.

"You. Amity." Eric stared down someone in the group. "You'll go first."

I looked to see who he was talking to and was not surprised that I hadn't noticed her before. The small Amity girl stood in the middle of the group with her hands clutching the hem of her shirt, the bright yellow making her an obvious target among the white, blue, and black space she occupied. At Eric's order, her face turned red and she stumbled forward to the edge of the roof. Her hands trembled as she pushed herself up to stand on top of the ledge, fear causing her whole body to shake. She was unsteady, swaying slightly side-to-side as she hesitated, balanced on the edge looking down into the darkness between the buildings.

"We don't have all day," he said, sounding bored and frustrated at the same time. I saw the Amity girl take a breath and then let herself fall forward off the building.

"I love it when they scream." Max remarked to the other Dauntless leaders as the Amity girl's screams echoed back up at us and I saw Eric smirked. I couldn't help but frown, anyone that took pleasure out of the fear of others was someone to watch out for.

After that, the rest of the initiates were eager to prove their bravery and I found myself in the middle of the line to make my descent off the building. When it was my turn, I only paused for a heartbeat on the ledge before I jumped. I kept my eyes open and my mouth shut as I fell, saying my goodbyes to the sun and clouds above me as I sunk into the darkness below. The net at the bottom was harsh against my back and forced the breath I had been holding out of me. My time on the net was short-lived as it was pulled to the side by invisible hands and I rolled until arms caught me and pulled me to my feet. The hands around my arms were connected to a man who asked me a question. "Name?"

"Olivia." I said, still breathless from jumping.

"Welcome to Dauntless, Olivia." He told me before turning his attention back to the net and at the next falling initiate. I left his side and went to stand by Calvin, who had been third to jump.

"Do you think if we asked they would let us go again?" He asked, grinning, his hair tousled from the wind.


	3. Immersion

The initiates were a huddled mass of excitement, the recent adrenaline resulted in a high which caused easy smiles and laughs among the group. I found myself between Calvin and Jenna, listening to Calvin recount his experience in great detail.

"--I know Calvin," Jenna interrupted, growing impatient at his rambling, "we all had to do it."

Calvin persisted anyway. "But we all experienced it a little differently, right? Anyway, so get this, as I was about to jump--"

"Alright, that's enough." The man who helped us out of the net stood in front of the group and silence fell as he started to speak. "My name is Four. Lauren and I will be in charge of the rest of the initiation process. At this point the group will be divided and the Dauntless-born initiates will be trained separately from the transfers. Those that are Dauntless-born will go with Lauren and the rest of you will stay with me." Half of the initiates left the group and followed a woman around a corner and out of sight.

At a signal from Four, the rest of the group followed him and he led us deeper into the compound. The air felt denser and it grew darker as we descended. I reached out and touched the walls, the rock felt cold and foreign on my fingertips. Up ahead, a bright light shined down the hallway and our sight was restored as the group entered an underground cavern. Four introduced us to our surroundings, "This is the Pit, the main source of social life here in Dauntless." He pointed above us at the rooms carved out of the rock. "Up there is where you'll find everything you'll need: clothing store, tattoo place, bar...

.... and my tablet and the rest of my supplies." I mentally finished his sentence, looking to the third floor and following the path with my eyes. I pictured Braden trying to be inconspicuous as he climbed the stairs, but inferring from how he acted outside of The Hub, he was most likely a bundle of nerves while he planted the materials. I wondered if I was standing where my friend had been only a couple of hours before. Was he still here or had he left before people started coming back from the Choosing Ceremony? I scanned through the people milling about the Pit, looking for a familiar face. Seeing none, I felt a pain in my chest, realizing that now I was truly alone.

"You can trade your allotted monthly points for any clothing or necessities, but it is against the rules for you guys to drink during initiation. Intoxicated initiates will not be tolerated and anyone under the influence will be punished. Save the celebrations for when you're one of us." With that warning, Four led us through an opening carved through the stone and into a room full of tables and benches with people eating and shouting. At the first empty table we passed, he instructed us to sit and eat, saying that he would be back to pick us up in about half an hour after he had taken care of some business.

Sitting down with my fellow initiates, I was able to get a closer look at what the competition would be for the next several weeks. Apart from Calvin and Jenna, there was another boy dressed in black and white, making that three from Candor, one from Amity, and the remaining six, including me, from Erudite. Despite having just arrived at the compound, the ten of us had divided into three distinct groups. At one end of the table was the first jumper, the small Amity girl, and two others, a girl from Erudite and the Candor boy. On the opposite side of the table was the rest of the Erudites and it was obvious from how they acted that the three boys and the remaining Erudite girl were already on familiar terms. They isolated themselves from the rest of the group, leaning towards each other and using indistinguishable, hushed words.

Calvin, Jenna, and I sat between the two groups. My companions were deep in discussion, most likely bringing up an earlier argument. I bit into my hamburger, studying the other initiates, sizing them up. From the look of it, my competition is going to be the group of Erudites to my left. Their presence was like a challenge and my mind began to list the various fighting and defensive moves I could perform. I was sure I could take them. I was beginning to look forward to our training.

I was glad that the Dauntless-born initiates were trained separately during the first stage. It would be a lot more challenging to have to fight someone who had been raised in Dauntless and had probably been throwing knives and punches from before they could read.

"Hey look -- olives!" Calvin said, looking for any distraction against Jenna arguing her point by pointing at food on the table. "Any relation that you know of, Oliv-ia?" He stressed the syllables of my name. Jenna and I both groaned at the lame pun.

"It's not my fault your parents named you that and doomed you to this lifestyle. Now please pass the ketchup, Banana." he said.

I handed it to him and the other Candor boy stopped his conversation with the first jumper. "Uh-oh, now you're vulnerable to all fruit-related nicknames," he told me.

Calvin flashed a wicked grin at us and warned the Candor boy, "and you'd better stay quiet if you don't want one too, Kolby."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Apple." The Erudite girl in their group told me. "You're from Erudite too? It's weird that we haven't met before. I'm Addie, and this is Susan and Kolby." She introduced us to her companions and we gave them our names.

"Super weird, and I'm surprised that none of us recognize you."

I turned to see one of the male Erudite transfers take a sip of water as he studied me. "What?" I asked, confused as to what he meant.

"From Erudite," he clarified, "you obviously transferred from there, but I swear I've never seen you before."

"I was kind of a shut-in." I responded, knowing that this topic was going to be brought up. The attention of everyone at the table was on me now and my tongue felt dry in my mouth as I started my well-rehearsed explanation. "My sister and I were home schooled because my parents thought we would get a better education if we were privately taught."

"Is that why you're so socially inept?" Calvin asked, but the grin on his face disappeared as he winced, and I'm sure someone had kicked him from underneath the table. My bet was on Jenna, she was frowning at Calvin, most likely giving him a painful reminder that they were not in Candor anymore and brutal honesty was no longer appreciated.

"Sure," I said with a small smile, looking down at the food on my plate and ready to drop the subject.

However, the Erudite boy was not ready to move on. "I know everybody in Erudite and I've never seen you before in my life." I sensed anger and frustration beneath his statement.

"I don't know what to tell you." I said, shrugging, becoming increasingly uncomfortable at his words and what he was implying. Thankfully he didn't respond and turned to started whispering to his friends.

From where she sat next to me, Addie leaned over to talk privately. "I wouldn't be put off by him, if you say you're from Erudite then I believe you. Why would you lie about something like that?" She shook her head at the thought and continued in hushed tones, wanting to keep our conversation between us. "Skylar and his goons are probably just mad that they haven't been able to harass a pretty girl like yourself for all these years. I'd be careful around them though, even the girl, they're not so friendly a bunch. I thought I was escaping all of that when I transferred but I guess we're all going to be a big happy family here."

"Okay, thanks." I said, grateful for her words of advice about the other Erudites, but they burned within me. Why would I lie about my identity? Just to deceive everyone to ensure the survival of an experiment that everyone in the room was participating in and knew nothing about. No big deal.

Four returned shortly to collect his initiates and led us through the compound to another destination. Outside of a wooden door, Four addressed the group. "The first stage of initiation starts tomorrow morning. At eight o'clock we will begin the physical portion of training in a training room on the third floor. Do not be late. During this stage a lot of factors will contribute to your individual rankings and at the end of stage one those results will be determined. The four people with the lowest scores across both the Dauntless-born initiates and the transfers will be cut from the program and become factionless."

I knew all of this already but there were gasps of disbelief among the others in the group. I imagine it would be a bitter shock to find out that the new life you had planned for yourself could be taken away.

Four ignored the outbursts and continued, "For the last two stages both groups of initiates will be combined and ranked together. The second stage is mainly emotional and the final one is mental, but we will be discussing these more in the future. No cuts will be made after stage two but at the end of initiation only the top ten initiates will become members The rest will be asked to leave the faction." There was a deafening silence in response.

"I know," Four commiserated with us, "I understand the stress you're under but if you work hard, I don't see any reason why each one of you can't become Dauntless members." With those words, Four opened the door for us to file into the dormitory. "It's a good thing that one of the transfers didn't want to jump, otherwise we would be pairing up on beds."

"Aw," The Erudite boy from earlier, Skylar, said in mock disappointment as he entered the room, "I was looking forward to sharing." He looked back at the group to wink at me. Heat flooded my cheeks but I kept my face emotionless while I stared back at Skylar and his friends laughing.

Four ignored their commotion, "I suggest you all go to bed immediately, tomorrow is going to come sooner than you think."

At those words Four closed the door and I followed Jenna and Calvin to the back corner of the room and chose a bed that was closest to the showers. I took off my shoes and got into bed fully dressed. Exhausted from not getting any rest the previous night, and with all the recent events pounding in my head, I drifted off to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


	4. Target

My shoulder was roughly shaken, a rude awakening from sleep. "Wake up Olivia!"

I feebly swatted at the hand, "Go away Braden." I mumbled, turning over to smash my face into the pillow. "Fifteen more minutes."

"Fine, but by then you'll be late and Four will be here personally to wake you up, and I'm sure you don't want that." Jenna's voice faded slightly as she moved away from my side.

My eyes snapped open. Shit, I had forgotten where I was. I looked up to see the other transfers in various stages of getting ready for the day. There was a pile of assorted black fabrics in the middle of the room that must have been dropped off sometime this morning. People were riffling through the materials, picking out clothes to wear for the day.

I threw back the covers to sit up and placed my bare feet on the cold floor. Jenna sat on her bed across from me, already dressed. She grabbed the bundle of fabric next to her and tossed it to me. "Here, I got you some clothes. I think we're around the same size." She bent over and started lacing up her shoes.

I yawned and ran my fingers through my hair, wincing as I untangled several strands. "Thanks."

She shrugged. "Calvin should be back soon with some food, that is if he hasn't gotten lost and ended up in some Amity field."

I offered a small laugh at her joke and quickly stripped out of the Erudite costume to put on the lightweight training clothes. We ran into Calvin as we exited the dormitory, his hands full of muffins and bananas. We choked down breakfast as we half-walked, half-jogged to the third floor.

Being back in a room full of punching bags and targets was oddly comforting. I was looking forward to this, exercise was going to be a good stress reliever and I was still a bundle of nerves.

The ten of us lined up side by side along one end of the training room while Eric, the Dauntless leader from yesterday on the rooftop, paced in front of us, giving information about today's itinerary. I tried to focus on his words but it was hard to not keep glancing up at the security camera in the room. Knowing that there was someone from outside the fence watching me, making sure I blended in, was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But now was not the time to get distracted. Cameras were in almost every room of the compound and I was going to have to get used to them.

I tried to concentrate on what Eric was saying, staring at the tattoos on his neck to help me focus. "The first stage of initiation will be physically demanding on each of you..." Eric stopped his pacing in front of me and made a point to look down at Calvin before he continued. ".... some of you more than others."

Snickers and whispers of affirmation from the Erudites transfers filled the room and Calvin's face flushed, the tips of his ears turning red. He looked angry and embarrassed. I hadn't paid attention to it before, but Calvin was only slightly bigger than Susan, the girl from Amity. I had been too distracted by yesterday's events to notice the contrast between Calvin and the rest of the initiate boys.

"That's enough." Eric silenced the laughter, taking control of the room again. I was jerked out of my thoughts and paid attention as well. No wonder he was chosen as a leader, everything from his presence to his voice demanded respect and obedience. "Four and I will now demonstrate some combat techniques and I suggest you pay attention. Your rankings official began the moment you walked into the room and tomorrow you will start fighting each other."

Four and Eric ran through hitting and blocking techniques and the initiates were quiet, absorbing as much information as possible. It was obvious that for teaching purposes Eric wasn't using a lot of force but I imagined that if it came down to it, if Eric started throwing real punches, Four would get hurt. Eric looked like he could cause some real damage. I thought about how I would react to the mock blows Eric was throwing. He was fast, but I would have to be faster. I would dodge his fists, stay out of his reach, and then try to catch him off guard. Get him to lose his balance and then land some blows. Or something.

For a couple of hours, we practiced our offensive moves against the punching bags and our defensive moves against each other. A Candor boy, Kolby, had been a worthy opponent and my forearms were a little sore from blocking his attacks. The initiates were then given a short break for lunch to refuel before gun training. After some basic safety instructions from Four and Eric, we were each given a weapon and directed to stand in front of a target.

I couldn't help but be a little disappointed by the guns. I missed the ones from the Bureau, they were a lot bigger and built for more power. Hoping that there wouldn't be much of a difference, I copied the stance Four had demonstrated and raised my weapon at the target. I wasn't sure how much of a recoil there would be, so to stay on the safe side I didn't prepare for any. I let the gun jerk backwards and upwards as I fired. A Erudite transfer would not have a lot of experience using a firearm so Olivia Kaiser should be surprised and unprepared for the gun.

The other initiates were having just as much of a hard time as I was pretending to have, but after a couple shots I properly prepared myself for the recoil. Holding the gun steady, the bullet grazed the side of the small target, right where I had aimed. I waited again until a couple others in the group had hit the center of the target before I let myself shoot correctly. A hole in the center of the target began to appear and it grew larger the more bullets I put through it. I couldn't help but be proud at the sense of accomplishment I felt, it felt good to be back in a shooting range.

After several more rounds, I felt someone watching me. My gun was aimed and ready to fire when I turned to the side to see the Erudite boy from last night, Skylar, leaning forward to look at me. I broke our eye contact to focus on the target and put a couple more holes in it. I looked back to him but he wasn't focusing on me anymore. Awhile later, I could sense him staring again. The fuck? I stopped ignoring his glances and stared back at him, frowning, trying to understand what the hell his problem was.

"Is there something more interesting than your training, initiate?" Eric's voice cut across the room and made Skylar jump.

"No, sir." Skylar responded, his face unreadable when he turned his attention back to the target.

I looked over my shoulder to see Eric switching his gaze between Skylar and myself. After making eye contact with Eric twice, I twisted back around and raised my gun to fire again. What the fuck was that Skylar? I've been doing a good job of not sticking out from the group, but a couple of glances from this asshole earned me some unwanted attention from one of the main Dauntless leaders. Attention that I couldn't handle or afford right now.

Soon Four announced the end of training and dismissed us for the day. We lined up behind the table to give our guns to Eric to be put away.

Eric narrowed his eyes as I offered my firearm to him. He looked me up and down before he reached out and took the gun from my hand. "Tomorrow, I don't want any interruptions in training. Don't be so distracting to your boyfriend." He said.

"He's not my boyfriend." I snapped, appalled at the assumption and slightly repulsed at the thought of what he was implying.

Eric raised his eyebrows at my tone and I bit my lip as I realized my mistake. "What was that, initiate?" He asked calmly, giving me a chance to redeem myself.

I lowered my voice, correcting myself. "Sorry. He's not my boyfriend, sir." I dropped my gaze to the ground after a couple of seconds of staring back at him.

"That's what I thought." Eric asserted and set my gun beside the others on the table.

During dinner my heart was still racing from my encounter with Eric. It was stupid to speak to him that way, I'm sure I sounded like a total ass. I couldn't afford to have those types of interactions with him. I didn't know what had overcome me, I was going to have to watch myself around him.

Jenna and Calvin began teasing me as soon as we sat down to eat. "I didn't know you had such a mouth." Jenna started off, grinning.

Shit. So it was been as bad as I thought. I laughed it off, "Yeah, I'm full of surprises."

"I can't believe you talked to Eric like that." Calvin said, chewing on a piece of bread, "If I spoke to him like that I would get killed."

"I'd pay to see that." Someone commented from further down the table, joining our conversation. "It would probably only take one second but the money would be worth it." The Erudite transfer took a drink after he spoke.

Skylar laughed and joined his Erudite transfer friend in addressing Calvin. "You better hope you get paired up with Susan tomorrow, I'm sure you'd only be in the infirmary for a day."

Calvin looked like he didn't know what to say and I felt the need to defend him. "Shut up," I told them, my voice hard.

Skylar pouted. "Aww, babe. That's no way to talk to your boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes. "I've suddenly lost my appetite," Jenna announced, standing up from the table, jerking her head to the exit, "Let's go get tattoos." Calvin and I abandoned our food and joined Jenna as she started towards the exit of the dining hall.

We hadn't gotten far when I heard the Erudite say something else to Skylar. "Good job pissing her off, now we get a great view as she walks away."


	5. Beating

I chewed my bottom lip as I watched the two figures in the ring circle each other, their bare feet shuffling across the padded mat. Addie had her arms up too high, her fear of getting hit in the face left her lower body exposed. I liked Addie, I appreciated her comments during the first evening in the dining hall about believing my identity, but her fighting form was shit.

Her opponent lashed out, making the first move, and I flinched, not too keen on watching Addie get beaten up by the other girl Erudite transfer, Lillian. Addie stumbled backwards across the mat, her defenses falling as her hands dropped to her side where she had been hit. This was probably the first time she'd ever been punched and it must have hurt. Lillian used Addie's disorientation as an opportunity to launch herself at her and knock her to the ground. Pinned, Addie squirmed beneath Lillian, trying to throw off the weight that constrained her and trying to deflect the punches that landed heavy along her jaw and temple.

To distract myself from the beating, I looked across the room at the board and studied the order of fights for the rest of afternoon. My chest tightened as I read through the remaining pairings. Not because I was listed alongside Davis, someone I assumed was one of the boys from Erudite, but because of the fight that was taking place before mine. 

My attention was diverted back to the mat when Addie managed to kick Lillian off. Addie was uneasy when she stood up, the recent punches taking a toll on her sense of balance. She swayed slightly, staring off into the distance with wide eyes and an open mouth. She was in bad shape. Rising as well, Lillian looked as if she was going to tackle Addie again when a voice stopped her.

"That's enough." Eric stood on the other side of the room, his voice flat and laced with boredom, which would have suggested his neutrality in the activity if his body language didn't state the opposite. His spine was straight with spread legs and crossed arms, making the tattoos stand out on his muscles. He looked interested to be here, his blue eyes intent on the fighting initiates before him, but disapproval was written across his face. I'm sure he was expecting a show. The time he must have taken off from whatever leadership duties he had to watch the fights must seem like a waste since the match had barely lasted a minute and Addie had been easy to take down.

Still unstable, Addie managed to stay on her feet until Four approached and steadied her. "Let's get you to the infirmary." Four said to her and then addressed Eric. "Continue with the fights, I'll be right back." He escorted the stumbling initiate out of the room for what was some well-needed medical attention. 

Addie experienced enough today and I wouldn't be surprised if she had a concussion. I frowned as Lillian joined her other Erudite transfers, giving high fives and laughing. Hurting someone like Addie to the point of hospitalization wasn't something to be celebrated.

At Four's departing order, Eric scowled. I'm sure he wasn't happy to be taking orders from someone he was in charge of. I could sense that there was some bad blood between the two trainers and wondered what happened between them to cause such tension.

"Well? Get on with it, then!" Eric snapped at the group as soon as Four was out of sight.

My chest tightened again as the next pair of initiates stepped into the ring to fight. The patch of flames that now decorated both of Calvin's biceps strained as he brought his arms up in a defensive position, ready to fight. Towering over him, Skylar looked down at his opponent, indifferent. I doubt he sees Calvin as much competition.

This was not going to be pleasant. The difference in skill level of these fighters was huge and I had to suppress the desire I felt to run on the mat and separate the initiates before Calvin got hurt.

The raw, redness around Calvin's tattoo was a reminder of last night and what was currently hiding under my mattress. After leaving the dining hall, Jenna, Calvin, and I went to the tattoo place and looked through the tattoo designs strung along the walls and pasted into binders. Jenna also looked at the nose rings until I advised her to hold off on getting any face piercings until we were done with the current stage of training. She agreed, not wanting to have a piercing accidentally ripped out during a fight.

Instead, Jenna decided on a simple design for her ankle and she went to the back to get tattooed. I helped Calvin in his search for a tattoo. Still indecisive, Calvin wanted something big, intricate, and something that could only be described as "badass." He shot down all the suggestions I showed him.

"Well, what about something like this?" I asked, frustrated, lifting up a drawing of a tattoo with flames that started on the back and spread down the arms.

His face broke out in a wide smile. "Badass." He affirmed, nodding seriously and taking the picture out of my hands. He traded places with Jenna as soon as she got back.

"Do you want something?" She asked me, twisting her leg around and admiring her new ink. The band of dashes that circled her ankle was nice and something I might want to get one day, but right now I had other matters on my mind. I had promised a friend that I would send a message as soon as I could and I needed an excuse to sneak off to the third floor.

"No, not right now."

"Alright." Jenna shrugged. "Do you want to pick up some more clothes? I'm sure Calvin is going to be awhile and I don't want to wait around here."

I eagerly accepted, taking advantage of her offer. "Sounds good. I have to pee first though, I'll catch up with you at the store."

Everything was exactly where Braden said it would be. The briefcase was in the back corner of the supply closet on the third floor behind some metal tubs. I rotated the numbers on the lock and opened the briefcase, grabbing the black, reflective tablet. Booting up the tablet, I entered the password into the home screen and opened the messaging system. I wrote out a quick message updating the Bureau on my status, aware that they already knew everything, but I did it for Braden. I'm sure he wanted to hear from the source that I was fine.

I didn't have time to scroll through the other information the tablet provided so I powered down the device and placed it back alongside the other materials in the briefcase. Several minutes had passed since I left Jenna and I needed to hurry up. She was bound to ask questions if my "bathroom break" took too long. My heart still beating hard from adrenaline, I shuffled through the rest of the briefcase's supplies and pocketed two objects.

The first object was a spherical metal device that fit easily into the palm of my hand and would alert me when I received an important message on the tablet by glowing green. This was going to be handy because I couldn't be seen sneaking off to a supply closet every other day just to check if there was any new updates. The other item was a small vial full of memory serum. I had been given permission from the Bureau to use the serum in an emergency and my earlier encounter with the suspicious Erudites had put me on edge. I pocketed the memory serum in case I needed to spike a drink during dinner sometime over the next few days.

Coming back to the present and to the reality of the fight between Calvin and Skylar was awful, but Calvin needed my full attention. Jenna and I would most likely be the ones to pick him up after the match because Four was gone and I had the feeling Eric wouldn't be much help.

Not moving a muscle beside me, Jenna and I watched Calvin and Skylar face off in the ring. I could hear the air as it hissed back and forth between her teeth. Her developing black eye was the only indicator she already fought and won. Susan and her had been the first to fight and I was impressed that the small girl from Amity managed to get in a good punch before Jenna took her out. It had also been a short fight which I'm sure was the start of Eric's impatience for real match.

Jenna refolded her crossed arms as Skylar kicked out at Calvin, she was just as upset about this situation as I was. Calvin was doing well so far, using his small frame to his advantage by dodging the kicks and punches that were thrown his way, playing defense. Frustrated, Skylar reached out and grabbed a handful of his shirt to keep him in place as he began hitting him.

Several seconds and punches later, blood started dribbling out of Calvin's mouth and onto his chin. Calvin pushed away at the hand and arm that trapped him, desperate to get away from Skylar. 

As the blows continued to land, I looked over to Eric, ready for him to end the fight as he had previously done with the others. But there was no indication that he ready to interfere any time soon, he still looked extremely disinterested. Anger surged through me, I wanted to yell at the Dauntless leader to stop the fight. Calvin was spent, his resolve diminishing as he got another fist to the jaw. How Eric could stand there and watch another person get brutally beaten was beyond me. Has he not had enough entertainment!? I was about to say something, despite my resolve to watch myself around him, when Eric finally spoke out.

"That's enough."

Skylar instantly dropped the hold on Calvin's shirt and let him fall to the ground. He didn't look like he was going to be able to get up on his own so Jenna and I rushed forward and lifted him to his feet.

"I'll take him to the infirmary," Jenna told me as she wrapped his arm around her neck, "you still have to fight."

I agreed and released him, I would be able to see them after my match. I looked over at Eric, he hadn't moved an inch since he stopped the fight and his eyes followed Jenna and Calvin as they left the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Eric's eyes snapped to mine and he smirked. "Good, you're already on the mat. Shall we continue? Davis?" He searched among the initiates for Davis.

Davis stepped out from among the transfer group with a few excited exclamations and pats on the back from his Erudite friends of Skylar, Lillian, and another boy. "Go easy on her face." Skylar called out as Davis stepped onto the mat. "I like the way it is now."

Davis carried himself with confidence as he approached me. He was a lot bigger and taller than I was which would have been intimidating in a situation where I was a normal girl who wasn't trained to kill.

"Hey, I'm Davis." He extended a hand and I recognized his voice. This was the asshole that was harassing Calvin last night. I remembered the comments he made about me yesterday as I was leaving the dining hall and I thought about killing him right now. Instead, I offered him my hand and gave him a fake smile.

"Olivia."

His hand was tight around mine and I couldn't easily pull away. He turned his head and gave a look to his friends as I tried to take my hand back. The Erudite transfers guffawed in return.

"We can have a reunion later." Eric snapped impatiently and Davis released my hand and stepped back, both of us bringing our arms up in the standard starting position.

My earlier anger at Eric's indifference during Calvin's match was reignited at Davis' actions and I was mad enough to hit something. What a douche. I was looking forward to following Braden's last words of advice and kicking some ass.

I checked myself, I can't let my emotions get in the way. I need to constrain myself and follow the plan to stay under the radar. I need to get in a few good punches to show that I can fight before I let him win. Davis obviously has the advantage over me and it would be suspicious if I could beat him. I needed to have a good standing but defeating someone like Davis this early would earn me some unwanted attention. I pushed away the thoughts of several different attacks I could do that would inflict the most injury and cause the greatest amount of pain. I was going to have to ignore my training and take some hits.

"Begin." Eric instructed.

We remained frozen for a second before his right leg shot out to kick at my side. I instinctively grabbed his ankle with both hands and tugged, causing Davis to lose his balance which allowed me to pull him harshly to the ground. He landed unceremoniously on his backside which forced a large breath to be exhaled through his teeth. I remained tense above him, keeping my position on the defense as déjà vu flooded through me.

I half-expected Davis to smile up at me as Braden had done only a couple days ago but fury spread across Davis' face and murder flashed in his eyes. He's not my friend. Right now he is the enemy and I have just embarrassed him in front of the whole initiate class. Laughter echoed against the walls and I even heard a chuckle coming from Eric's side of the room. At least he was getting some entertainment.

Rising quickly to his feet, Davis made another attack at me and I let his fist collide with my jaw. It was completely against my body automatic response of wanting to block the punch with an forearm. Before I could recover from the first hit, I felt two more land on my face. Ouch. Fuck. 

Breathing heavily, Davis took two steps back and gave me a moment to recuperate, his wounded pride starting to heal. I was grateful for the small break. I touched my lips to see if they were still there and then our arms lifted in identical positions. I prepared myself to go on the offensive. I needed to score some points to start working my way up the ranks so it was time to let out some of my pent-up rage. I rapidly extended my arm and landed my fist against his jaw.

His head whipped backwards at the impact and I waited for a split second before I struck again. After a couple of hits to the head and a kick to the side, I allowed him the same courtesy of a moment of recovery, preparing myself for the next set of punches I would receive. I planned on going down hard and then I would pretend to be too dizzy to stand up.

This plan was forgotten as soon as Davis opened his mouth and ruined everything.

"You punch like a girl." Davis spat, his wounded pride showing once again.

Whatever rage I previously had expanded beyond anything I had felt before and I snapped. Was that supposed to be an insult? I was going to show him exactly how a girl punches. White hot anger flashed across my vision and the next thing I knew I was standing above Davis' unconscious body in a deafeningly quiet room.

The sound of a door closing broke the silence. I looked up to see Four returning from dropping Addie off at the infirmary. His mouth was slightly open in shock at what he had just witnessed. I'm sure initiates knocking each other unconscious with one punch was something they didn't see everyday. Next to Four, Eric was grinning.

"Finally!" Eric said. "Something worth watching."

I swallowed and uncurled my fist. I stepped back from my defeated opponent and was immediately filled with regret. Four and Eric walked over to the mat and Four crossed in front of me to check if Davis was okay.

I froze when I felt a hand press against my lower back.

"I've underestimated you. It looks like you're going to be a big distraction." His massive form was standing too close and I could feel the heat off Eric's hand on my back. Whatever emotions I felt about being this close to one of the Dauntless leaders was nothing compared to the mortification I felt at what I just did to Davis. Not even Davis deserved to be hit like that.

Shit.

So much for staying under the radar.


	6. Innocents

The sound of steel ricocheting off targets and falling to the floor was occasionally accompanied by a swear. So far only a handful of initiates had managed to get their knives to stick to the boards evenly spaced across the wall. I wasn't one of them.

This wasn't by choice. My knuckles protested every time my grip tightened around the throwing knives, distorting my aim. A stinging reminder of my blind rage yesterday. I bit back the pain as I picked up another knife and as Eric walked behind me again. He paced back and forth behind the group, radiating displeasure at our performance. He had expressed this at the beginning of the training session when he introduced new changes to the structure and focus of training.

"Yesterday was pathetic," Eric broadcasted when the bruised faces assembled themselves before the trainers. "With a few exceptions, you all took a beating lying down. You may not have been born into this faction, but it is expected that you will act Dauntless. From now on, an extra hour will be added to training until everyone can get caught up to the level of the other initiation class."

Although opposition to the new program from the initiates was tangible in the air, there was no verbal protests, at least not with Eric standing there, threatening us with his eyes and stiff posture.

At ease, a sharp contrast to Eric, Four seemed far more relaxed on the matter, leaning up against the side wall, a casual observer during these announcements. If he had any objection to Eric's statements, he kept his peace. With Eric's intensity and stubborn behavior, I'm sure Four knew by now not to interfere in any of his coworker's antics. Four's silence continued as he quietly kept track of points individuals were earning on a tablet and as I let go of the knife in my hand and watched it sail through the air towards the target.

I let out a sigh of relief as the knife finally stuck. Impaling itself at the bottom right corner, exactly where I had aimed. I opened my fingers and closed them, forcing the joints to stretch and wincing. I wasn't sure how I was going to do during today's match. I wouldn't be able to do much ass-kicking if my hand was barely in commission. Even if I did, there was a big possibility that I would cause more injury and multiply the bruises that already spotted across my right hand.

However, the swelling had decreased somewhat since my visit to the infirmary at the end of training yesterday, in which I received a deliciously frozen ice pack, and saw Calvin, who had remained there until late last night under medical observation until the doctors concluded he didn't have a concussion.

I was also unsure how Calvin was going to perform during today's scheduled fights. At the moment his mental and physical well-beings were complete polar opposites. He was still impaired from Skylar's ruthless beating, but his normal fireball self had made a momentary reappearance when I had recounted what had occurred between Davis and myself during my visitation last night.

"Them bastards had it coming." Calvin had said, approving of my recent activities and getting riled up. "Nobody messes with Pineapple and gets away with it... Just wait until I'm out of this bed, I'll crack some skulls together. You'll see!"

I had been amused at the time, but now, watching Calvin out of the corner of my eye hunched over and throwing knives even more inaccurately than I was pretending to, I wanted to either cry or stand between him and anything else that was a danger to him. Or maybe both. I knew for certain that if Calvin kept his promise and started a fight with any one of the Erudite transfers, I would have to get involved to ensure that my friend didn't get hurt. I hoped he wouldn't be that stupid.

Well, not every Erudite transfer. Addie had been glued to the hospital bed beside Calvin yesterday, her symptoms much more severe. A definite concussion. Too many hits to the temple. She remained in the infirmary's care but it was rumored that she would rejoin the group after lunch, just in time for the fights. We all knew that Addie couldn't afford to waste all of today's points recovering in the infirmary, especially after losing yesterday to Lillian.

The sound of Eric's heavy footsteps stopped behind me and I quickly released my grip on another throwing knife. I intentionally threw this one more sloppily, letting it bounce off the wall and clatter to the floor. I was proud of myself, I've improved at pretending to be new at this. From now on no more showing off, no more drawing attention to myself. At least not for a little while.

"How about you stop wasting everyone's time and throw the knife properly? Stop pretending you don't know how to." A voice demanded. In my peripheral, I saw a handful of people turn from their activities to see who Eric was talking to, but they quickly went back to throwing knives, relieved to see that the questions weren't directed at them.

I continued to face forward, my face and neck beginning to burn red hot. I didn't want to have any more interactions with the Dauntless leader. Especially not today, when he was in a bad mood and out for blood.

Unable to ignore Eric's confrontation any longer, I turned around to face him and was shocked at how close he was standing.

His chest less than a foot from my face, I craned my neck up to see that he was glaring down at me with creased eyebrows and piercing blue eyes. Piercing blue eyes that were too close for comfort and demanded an answer.

I needed to swallow before I could replied, my throat suddenly dry. "I'm trying my best. It's harder than it looks." I managed to maintain eye contact but the lies slipped unevenly across my tongue. I could practically taste how flat my voice was. I let out a string of choice swear words in my head as my eyes dropped to his chest. He caught me off guard. My brain was too fuzzy and my responses were too slow to come up with a good answer with him standing this close.

Eric let out an exasperated sigh, his cool breath slightly moving the hair on the top of my head. He leaned down closer.

"Throw. The. Fucking. Knife." He ordered, his whispered voice a threat.

My heart beating fast, I stared back again into his eyes, assessing the challenge he gave me. I blinked twice before I turned my back on Eric, picked up another knife, and threw at the board.

The knife was airborne for a second before it made impact; right in the center of the target.

The thud of the knife sticking into board acted as a signal for the others to stop throwing. If I had a problem with people staring at me during training, I definitely did now.

"That's what I thought." Eric smugly said, but his tone quickly changed from amusement to authoritarian to address our silent audience.

"DID I TELL YOU TO STOP TRAINING!?"

I jumped at the abrupt change in volume and Eric moved from my side. The clattering of weapons quickly started up again and was soon accompanied by mutters after Eric quickly strode out of the room. By the time the door had closed behind him, the room was buzzing.

The buzzing continued for another fifteen minutes until the end of the morning's training when Four dismissed us for lunch. During that time I didn't pay much attention to where I was throwing my knives. Sometimes they hit the center, sometimes they didn't.

Although glances were sent in my direction from the other initiates, nobody said a word to me except for Four, who had offered a small nod and a "well done" when I returned my throwing knives to him. I gave him a quick nod and smile in response and followed behind Jenna and Calvin as they exited the training room.

Jenna and Calvin waited until we were sitting down in the dining hall with our food before Calvin commented on what had just happened. "Forget fruit related nicknames, maybe we should start calling you Bullseye."

I forced out a laugh. "Haha... Yeah, probably." Playing the recent events off as nonchalantly as possible seemed to be the best bet right now. "Today sure has been crazy. Are you guys ready for the fights later?"

Calvin hummed in response to my words but ignored the question. "I just find it funny how this type of thing keeps happening, you know? First yesterday's fight and now this." Calvin said as he stabbed his fork into his food. He had a smile on his face but his voice was callous, his eyes gleaming with something. Anger? Jealousy? My eyes snapped to Jenna to see if she had picked up on this too.

She had. Over the brim of her cup, Jenna's eyebrows were raised in surprise and I could almost make out the smirk that was no doubt hiding behind the metal cup. She was enjoying this.

I started to clear my throat and I pushed out another laugh, trying to ease the tension at the table. "I'm not sure what you mean, it was a lucky throw. Everybody gets a little lucky sometimes." I popped some food into my mouth and chewed quickly.

Calvin and Jenna shared a brief look and slowly Jenna lowered her glass, cocked her head, and smiled wide at me. "Knocking out someone who is almost twice your size with one punch and then hitting the center of the target on our the first day with knives." She nodded her head up and down several times and shrugged. "Sure, just crazy things that happen because of luck."

Calvin snorted in response. I felt my heart starting to beat faster, I didn't like where this conversation was going and I needed to diffuse the situation.

"You know--" I began but was cut off by Calvin.

"Should we should keep her on a chain, as some sort of charm? So everyone can share the luck?"

Jenna laughed. "Sounds good, but only if I get her for the rest of the day, I'm going to need to earn a lot of points during my fight since I couldn't throw knives for shit."

"Very funny." I dryly interjected. "But you guys know that--"

"No deal!" Exclaimed Calvin, interrupting me again. "You probably have twice as many points as I do. I should get Bullseye for at least the next couple of days until I'm caught up with the rest of the group."

"I don't think that--" I started again.

"That's fair." Jenna nodded seriously at the proposal. "We should work out the schedule later tonight, determine shifts, create some sort of lottery system."

"Agreed." Calvin reached across the table and shook hands with Jenna.

They must think they're pretty funny, but I was becoming pissed off. "As much as I love being talked about, you guys do realize that I'm sitting right here?" Sarcasm heavy on my tongue and my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

"Look--" Jenna shrugged her shoulders as she addressed me. "No need to get upset, Olivia. We're your friends. We're on your side. It's just that we don't understand what's going on with you and we would appreciate an honest explanation."

I clenched my jaw before I spoke again, my voice coming out louder than I anticipated. "An explanation? How is it so hard to understand that I got lucky in knife-throwing and fighting. I've worked hard and I'm good at it. And just so you know, I feel pretty fucking bad for knocking Davis out yesterday; he didn't deserve that. So if you guys could shut up, that would be wonderful."

By the look on their faces, I knew that I had gone too far but I couldn't help it, my fuse has been a lot shorter since I came into the city and they were getting on the last of my nerves. I sighed and began my apology. "Sorry. I didn't mean any of that, I'm just stressed." I began piling up my silverware, napkin, and empty glass onto my half-eaten tray. "I think I want to be alone right now, I'll talk to you guys later." I stood up from the table and balanced the tray on my good hand.

Jenna nodded and as I walked away I heard Calvin murmur to her, "Maybe we should start calling her Anger Management."

I chose to ignore this and walked to the other side of the room to dispose my tray. I passed by the table that was full of the rest of the initiation class and was greeted by several pairs of curious eyes, a scowl from Davis, and a wink from Skylar.

Both Skylar and Davis opened their mouths to say something but were interrupted by loud exclamations from others in the group. A dazed Addie had appeared beside the table, making her first public appearance since the infirmary.

Gratitude washed over me as Addie was lead to a seat by Susan. I was glad that she was okay, even if she didn't look steady on her feet, at least she was still in the program. I was also glad because I didn't want to hear whatever Skylar and Davis were about to say. I'm not sure which comment was going to be worse.

Hastily, I deposited my tray into the bins and left the dining hall. I wondered aimlessly around the dark hallways of the compound, picking at the cuticles of my nails and avoiding eye contact with those I passed. I counted the number of hallways I walked down, memorizing the various landmarks and giving them nicknames. Blue door. Arches. The sooner I got myself oriented with the new layout of my surroundings, the better. The cold and damp were going to be the hardest part of the adjustment, I was used to open windows, and light, and spotless tile floors.

Not knowing how much time had passed, I decided to make my way to the training room. The door was locked, they must not have begun yet. I slid down the side of the rock wall until I was resting on my ankles, my elbows pressing into my knees.

"Showing up early won't earn you extra points. Not that you'd need them anyway."

I looked to the right, to the source of the sound, and saw Four emerge from the darkness, clipboard under his arm and a set of keys in hand. He shifted through them until he found the right one and unlocked the training door.

I stood up, heard my joints crack, and answered him. "I finished lunch early, I wasn't that hungry."

"I didn't ask." Four pushed open the door to the training room. "But since you're here, would you mind helping me set up?"

"Not at all." I followed him into the room and he turned on the switch to illuminate the room in florescent light.

"Here." Four handed me a piece of paper from his clipboard and some chalk. "You can write up the fight pairings. Don't bother changing any of the names, I'll check to make sure they're correct."

"I won't." I promised and walked to the board. When I got there, I looked down the list and my stomach turned over.

The first two names were "Olivia" and "Addie."

Shit.

I hastily wrote down the pairings, linking them together with lines. My hand shaking slightly as I traced out my opponent's name. This was not good. I thought our trainers would take into consideration her condition. Pitching Addie against me would only increase her chances of spending another night in the infirmary as there was no way I could risk falling behind in the rankings by losing to her. Putting her against Susan or Calvin would be a fairer fight.

"Any problems?" Four called from across the room.

My voice came out like a squeak. "No."

"Good. Come over here and help me move these mats."

Two mats later and I was out of breath. They were damn heavy and we still had several more to move. "Shouldn't Eric be here to help with these?" I wheezed as we dropped the mat onto the platform, dust exploding out of the black material.

Four straightened up and I followed him to get another mat. "He usually does, but he had a meeting with the other Dauntless leaders this afternoon."

I couldn't tell if I was relieved or disappointed. I felt that I have had enough interaction with him for the day but these mats were heavy and we could have used some of his muscle.

After moving all the mats and inhaling a dozen lungfuls of dust, the group of initiates walked in the door, continuing their lunch chatter. When Calvin and Jenna entered, I waved to them. They took notice of me, Calvin shot me a smile across the room, but they remained on the other end of the room, their heads close together, whispering, most likely discussing the upcoming fights. I get it, they weren't ready to forgive me for my outburst.

Four stood in front of the group and clapped his hands together which caused the talking to die down. "Alright. Let's get started. Olivia, Addie, you're up first."

I walked onto the mat and turned around to see Addie slowly approaching me, limping. It looked like every part of her body was hurting. The room was deafening quiet as we both got into position and Four signaled us to begin.

I offered her a small smile as we began circling each other. She stared back at me, stone-faced with wide eyes. No doubt she had heard about what happened yesterday and was now terrified of me and what I could do to her.

If she was concerned about getting hit in the head yesterday, she definitely was now. Leaving her lower body completely exposed, she protected her head. It made sense, the worst thing for her condition would be to get hit in the head again.

After several seconds of silence, it was obvious that she wasn't going to make the first move. I darted forward and kicked my foot out, swiping her feet out from under her and sent her sprawling on her back. I bounced back to let her recover and get back on her feet. There's no honor in kicking someone like her when they are down.

Addie got up and raised her arms again, ready to fight. I leaped forward and kicked her down for a second time and immediately cringed when her head smacked against the mat. I had no intention in causing any more additional injuries to her head, a concussion was more than enough, I just hoped that if I kicked her down a couple more times, she'd take the hint and stay down.

When Addie got back on her feet, she started to go on the offensive and I couldn't blame her. She needed to earn points. I raised my right arm to block her incoming fist with my forearm but she changed the direction of her punch at the last second and the collision of her knuckles against my own, of bone against bone, sent painful vibrations up my arm.

"FUCK!" I screamed, yanking my arm away and covering my knuckles with my other hand for protection. Tears sprang to my eyes and I backed away from Addie, the throbbing from my knuckles excruciatingly painful. This morning's pain was nothing compared to what I now felt.

I blinked the tears from my eyes to see Addie stalled in front of me, I could see the gears in her head moving as she tried to make sense of my sudden outburst. It didn't take her very long to realize she had a window and she moved to attack again.

Before she could get close enough to try anything else, I kicked her in the stomach and sent her flying back.

This didn't stall her long. She staggered back a few steps but managed to stay on her feet and came at me again. This time I aimed my kick at her ribs and jumped to the side, dodging her as she tried to punch my hand again. What the hell was her problem? I was being more than nice to her by not going after her weakness and she couldn't do the same for my injured hand? What a bitch.

I didn't mean that. Or maybe I did. I'm not sure. I couldn't concentrate on anything right now except for the pain vibrating along my whole arm and the fact that Addie was actively trying to cause me more pain.

She panted as she moved forward again. When she got close enough, her foot lifted to strike the injured hand I kept behind my back.

Addie's head jerked backwards before I realized what had happened. My good hand was still curled into a fist as her hands went up to her nose. My instincts had acted before my conscious could interfere and I had punched her in the face.

Our spectating audience hissed in disapproval. I agreed with them, that was a shitty move and guilt immediately began to eat at my insides.

She removed her hands from her face and made the motions to attack again. I swept her feet out from under her and pounced while she was down, holding one of her wrists down with my hand and the other one with my forearm. She squirmed beneath me, trying to find a way out, but I constrained her with my weight.

"Stop." I whispered to her, pleading with her. Addie needed to understand that continuing to fight me wasn't going to get her anywhere. She was only going to continue getting hurt. I couldn't lose to her. There was no way I was going to lose.

She continued to squirm beneath my grasp. "Like hell!" Addie yelled out and began struggling with a greater fervor. It was getting difficult to keep pressure on her and as I tried to rearrange our positions, she jerked her head to the side and knocked it against my injured fist with such force that it caused me to scream out in pain for the second time.

I quickly released her but before she could move, I brought my fist down on her jaw.

Addie's eyes started to glaze over and I could tell she was fighting against unconsciousness. I rolled off her but remained tense. I was more than ready for her to finally give up or to have Four end the match. Addie's breaths escaped her body in gasps.

If only the match had ended there. Finding new energy, Addie flailed her fist out in search of me and I ignored the voice in my head telling me to stop. I pushed her arm out of the way and smashed my fist into her face one last time.

She went out like a light. The only sounds I heard were her now even breathing, my ragged one, and Four's footsteps as he made his way over to our fallen figures. The rest of the room was silent.

"I'm sorry." I told Four as he stood above me. I was sure he didn't care but I said it anyway. I felt that I needed to tell someone how I felt and Addie was no longer conscious to hear me express it.

"Can you give me a hand here, Kolby?" Four addressed the group and Kolby entered onto the mat and helped pick up Addie. After a gesture from Four, I stood up and followed them out of the room, cradling my hand against my chest.

An hour later I sat in the infirmity with an ice pack across my knuckles. I had told the doctor when I arrived that I didn't need anything and that they should be concentrating on Addie but he didn't listen to me. After rotating my wrist around in several different angles and taking an x-ray, I was left alone in one of the rooms to rest in one of the infirmary's beds as they examined the results.

"Am I in trouble?" I had asked Four after he had dropped Addie off and when the doctor was first examining my hand.

"No." Four was puzzled by my question. "For what?" I didn't say anything else and Four left me to return to the training room. There were still several fights that had to take place today.

Now, alone and sitting upright at the edge of the infirmary bed, my legs swinging freely off the side, guilt was freely consuming me. I lifted the ice pack and stared down at the purple bruises dotting my knuckles and although my face had been dry for awhile now, I could feel phantom tears on my cheeks, ghosts of the real ones Addie had forced out of me.

The only thing I could take solace in is that I had yet to see Four return. That meant that nobody else had become injured enough to be sent here. I couldn't remember who Calvin was matched against, I had other things on my mind at the time, but I hope he did well.

The door to the room opened and I looked up from nursing my hand. I expected to see either the doctor with a diagnose or Four back to deposit one of my fellow initiates in a bed alongside me, but it was only Eric. I dropped my eyes back down to my ice pack. Maybe I was in trouble after all?

"How's your hand?" Eric asked as he walked and stood in front of the bed. "Four explained what happened."

"Are you here to check up on Addie?" I questioned him, not looking up from nursing my hand. He was standing close enough to me that I could reach out and kick his leg. Not that I would dare, but I could if I wanted to. "I think they have her in a different room."

"No." He said and then added, "I wanted to see how you were doing."

Eric's abruptness made me look up at him, his tone suggesting that he wasn't the least bit interested in Addie's condition.

"I'm fine. I feel like a piece of shit for what I did to Addie, but I'm fine." I looked around the room, soberly aware of how alone we were. "You don't need to be here you know, I don't need any help, the doctors are taking care of me." Unsure why I was saying all of this, I continued to blab to him. My mind becoming slow and my breaths becoming more frequent as a result from being so close and so alone with the Dauntless leader. "They took some x-rays and should have the results soon, but for now I have an ice pack." I held up my hand as evidence.

He ignored the majority of my statements. "An ice pack is good, it will decrease the swelling."

Speaking of my ice pack, the towel now held mostly melted ice cubes from being in prolonged contact with my skin. It wasn't as cold, I needed more ice.

I involuntarily sighed as I reached out with my good hand to the bedside table toward a bucket which contained a generous mountain of ice cubes. The table was a little too far away and I knew that I couldn't reach it without standing up but I continued to stretch towards it.

"Here." Eric walked over and took a handful of ice from the bucket and started wrapping it up in another towel on the table.

"I don't need help." I reminded him again but Eric just rolled his eyes.

"Obviously." His voice heavy with sarcasm.

Just as he started to reach for my hand to place the new ice pack, I drew back as if he was an open flame and I was about to get burned. "Seriously, Eric. I'm fine. I don't want your help."

At my actions and harsh words, Eric drew back as well and a hardness set over his eyes. We stared at each other. My heart began beating wildly in my chest. I didn't want to make him mad at me but I also didn't want him here anymore. Especially since it seemed like I couldn't breathe or think correctly when he was this close.

"Fine." I blinked at his voice and at the noise of clattering ice when he dropped the ice pack next to my thigh on the infirmary bed. I wasn't sure what I expected him to do in response to my rejection but coldly staring into my eyes wasn't it.

He studied my face and my reaction for a second more before he turned around and stalked out of the room, almost plowing through a doctor that was wise enough to jump out of the way in time.

"Wow, he looks pissed. What did you do? Are you in trouble?" The doctor asked once the door was shut again and he stood in front of me, observing his tablet.

I copied Jenna and shrugged my shoulders. "Probably."

"Well, your x-rays are back. Nothing that can't be fixed. As soon as the swelling and inflammation go down, we can put a splint on it to help it heal properly. You'll have stay here until then, though."

I frowned. "Will I still be able to fight with a splint?"

The doctor looked up from entering things into the tablet. "You'll have to keep a couple of your fingers straight on your right hand, but my advice? Get good at kicking, your left hook, or perfect the bitch-slap."

I lifted the corner of my mouth. "How is Addie doing?" I asked.

He looked confused. "Who?"

"The girl I came in with." I clarified.

Realization flashed across his face and he looked uncomfortable. "Um, let's just focus on getting you out of here, okay?" He entered one more thing on the tablet, promised to check on me in a little bit, and left the room.

As soon as the door closed I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes. The pressure causing white spots to take over my vision, helping release some of the pressure building inside my head.

My throat closed up in emotion.

I was tired of hurting people.

I want to go home.


	7. The Fence

Rushed, anxious words drained from Calvin's mouth as the pile of food on his plate rose to a mountain. He glanced over his shoulder, checking to see if the tables of initiates were still watching us. They were.

Calvin was the messenger. He explained that visitors had been barred from the infirmary since yesterday and with no updates on Addie's condition, the group was upset that I had the nerve to show up to breakfast alone and uninformed.

"This isn't personal, but we all decided that it would be better for everyone involved if you would give us some space. A couple of people are really upset and you'll only remind us of what happened yesterday."

"I didn't mean to hurt her, I just--"

"--Sure." Calvin interrupted, dismissing me. "Anyway, Four told us last night that we're going to meet in the pit at 10 to tour the fence so I'll catch up with you then, yeah? Don't worry, this whole thing will blow over soon enough." He rushed away to sit with the other initiates and eat his food while I was left holding an apple that I don't remember picking up. I bit into the thin skin as I left the line and cringed. I hate green apples.

I exited the dining hall and threw the apple in the trash along with the feelings of rejection Calvin had left with me. I don't need him. I don't need them. I repeated this to myself as I wandered back to the dormitories. I don't need them. I don't need anyone. I had more important things to do anyway. What I needed was to take a shower and to take my pain medication.

Half an hour later I sat on the floor of the supply closet, water dripping from my hair onto my shirt and onto my tablet. Clicking through the updates and messages on the bright screen, I could almost feel my hair twisting into its natural curls. Braiding or putting my hair in a ponytail with one injured hand was not an option so I would have to endure the chaos I could feel forming on my head and the pieces of hair that kept falling in my face.

I pulled out a bright orange container from my pocket and examined the fine print on the label. Take every two hours with food, it instructed. My stomach gurgled at the thought of food but I wrapped my arms around myself and clenched my stomach muscles to suppress the sounds. Going back to the dining hall wasn't an option. Not only would it be too embarrassing to sit by myself, but I was too proud to give anyone the satisfaction of making me look like an outcast.

I opened the container with my good hand and popped two small blue pills into my mouth, the pills sticking to the inside of my throat as I dry swallowed them.

I checked the time at the top of the tablet's screen. 9:15. More than enough time to finish going through the rest of these unread messages. I started with the oldest reports, clicking on, skimming through, and absorbing the information before moving on. So far the majority of the updates were of little to no importance. General group announcements addressed to all employees of the Bureau. The first floor of the west wing will be closed for construction over the next several weeks. Reports of small disturbances among the factionless and rumors of an uprising. Reminders that a government visitation and inspection of the Chicago headquarters is scheduled for next Thursday.

Those riots were intriguing but a new message, received only moments ago, flagged red, and containing the word "important" in the subject, appeared on the screen. I quickly browsed through its contents and then immediately started over again, trying to make myself read slower so that I could understand the orders the head of the Bureau was giving.

"Olivia,

I have been briefed by my staff about your recent events and your subsequent injury. I offer my condolences and hope that this is only a minor setback in your training.

These recent events have raised concerns about the effectiveness of your approach to the assignment. Assimilation into the program was the most important aspect of sending you into the field and I assume it can now be safe to say that hiding your talents has been unsuccessful. During a leadership meeting yesterday, the committee has decided that the best course of action is for you to proceed from this moment forward with the objective of becoming first in your class. Or in other words, become the shining star we all know you are.

Right now it is imperative that you become a Dauntless member by any means necessary. Work hard and don't get distracted. However, and I don't want to have to repeat myself on this, be nice. I know that you're not there to make friends but for God's sake you're only drawing more attention to yourself by acting this way.

Be nice to them, and more importantly, be nice to Eric.

Best Wishes,

Anderson"

This message marked the first direct correspondence Anderson had sent me.

Rereading Anderson's departing words and closing the message, I realized I was biting my lip. The pit in my stomach that had formed from being scolded by the head of the Bureau was gnawing at my insides. Granted, I knew that much of the contention between the initiates and myself could have been avoided if I had controlled my temper but I couldn't picture them forgiving me anytime soon, especially since I put one of their friends in the infirmary.

I also knew that I had too rash towards Eric last night. He wanted to help and I pushed him away. I shouldn't be surprised that the Bureau took note of the incident. I'm wasn't sure what was going to be harder, turning over a new leaf with the initiates or with my trainer.

I looked at the time. 9:50. I locked the tablet and shoved it back into the bag before I left the supply closet. Walking down the stairs into the pit I saw the initiates were already gathered around our two leaders. Eric stood apart from the group, scowling at the walls of the pit and at the groups of people walking by.

Yikes. He was not in a good mood.

"Olivia!!" Skylar shouted my name as I joined the group. At his exclamation everyone's eyes and attention were on me except for Eric's, who continued to watch those who passed by. "How's your hand baby doll? It's good to see you again, it's been such a bore without you here knocking people out."

Remembering Anderson's orders, I bit the inside of my cheek to stop the response bubbling in my throat from coming out. Instead I lifted one corner of my mouth to smile at Skylar as I joined the group.

"Everyone here? Good." Four checked his watch. "Let's head out." They led the way out of Dauntless, through countless dark tunnels until we emerged outside into an environment that was so bright that it was almost painful on the eyes.

Standing next to the train tracks, I ran my shoe across the ground, shifting the rocks and making intents in the dirt as my mind examined and shifted through the thoughts filling my head. I strained my neck to peer down the tracks, looking for any sign of the oncoming train that was supposed to be arriving shortly.

Sunlight emerged through cotton ball clouds and sent warm rays of sun onto my exposed arms and when I closed my eyes the heat danced across my eyelids. Dirt and rock crunched beneath dozens of shuffling feet as conversations were spoken in hisses. At the sound of metal scraping against metal, I opened my eyes to see the train as it appeared from around the bend. I immediately saw that the first couple of cars had open doors and then my gaze involuntarily moved to Eric.

His eyes were already on me.

We stared at each other for a second before he turned to look at the train and started jogging parallel to the train tracks. As Eric moved passed me, I followed his lead and started running behind him. Our footfalls were soon accompanied by a stampede of others as Four and the rest of the initiates followed.

The train began to pass us on the right side and Eric swiftly climbed into the second open door. I caught up to the train, threw myself sideways, and awkwardly started to pull myself up with one hand when a hand wrapped around my upper arm and I was pulled into the train.

On my feet, I straightened up, fixing my clothing. "Thanks."

He didn't respond.

"And..." My mind whirling, "I'm sorry.. about before..." I trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. Anderson ordered me to be nice and I suppose nice people apologized for their shitty behavior. Right? "About yesterday..." I clarified. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

Eric responded by taking my arm again and yanking me to the side. I looked over my shoulder to see Four jumping into the train, landing exactly where I had been standing moments before.

Four studied the two of us and gave Eric's grip of my arm an amused look which caused Eric to quickly let go. At my release, I moved away from the open door to sit alongside the opposite wall and watch the rest of the initiates flow into the train car.

After everyone was situated on the train, Jenna and Calvin joined me alongside the wall. They incessantly chatted with each other and I tried to pay attention to the conversation. I occasionally smiled at their banter but it was easy to get distracted when Eric chose to sit only a few feet away. I didn't know if I could take this as a sign that my apology had been accepted but I hoped this whole thing was behind me and I could concentrate on more important things, such as surviving initiation.

".... Olivia."

"Huh?" I looked away from the passing blur of colors that flew past the train.

"Do you want me to put your hair up?"

In reply, a piece of hair fell in front of my eyes. "Um, sure."

I turned around and Jenna scooted behind me and started gathering up my hair in her hands. I found myself staring at a pair of black shoes and crossed legs. As Jenna twisted my hair into an elastic band, my gaze moved up his body and I scanned over the tattoos on his neck until I moved to focus on his face and on the piercings above his eyebrow. Eric's head leaned against the metal of the train and his eyes were closed.

My pulse was unexpectedly beginning to quicken at the situation, a response which I immediately marked as irrational. This was an inherently mundane situation and it shouldn't make me feel this way; but it was fascinating that this was the first time that I had been able to study him this close without being under the pressure of his gaze. As my eyes traveled from his brow and down his straight nose, I could see and almost hear the deep breaths being exhaled. I looked down to my lap as Jenna finished my hair. I didn't want to get caught staring at him.

"Thanks." It felt as though my hair had been almost pulled out by the roots but at least now it was manageable. I glanced up at Eric one last time to make sure his eyes were still closed before I shifted my body, blocking him from my view so that I wouldn't be tempted to keep being distracted by him.

"How's your hand?" Calvin asked, playing with the velcro straps along my wrist.

I drew my hand away, "It's okay. They have me on some good drugs."

Calvin grinned. "Really? You might have to share." I laughed.

The screech of brakes alerted us that the train was slowing down. Everyone was soon on their feet and when the train was moving slow enough the first group of people started jumping off. I was beside Jenna when we jumped and she steadied me when we landed.

"All right. Listen up." Four commanded, standing in front of the group as the train moved further and further away. "Today we're taking a tour of the fence. Be respectful to the guards and pay attention to the tour guides because those of you that pass initiation may be stationed here." We were joined by a group of Dauntless members carrying guns and Four shooed us away. "Go. Learn something. We'll meet up in about an hour and head back for lunch."

The group climbed the stairs single-file up several stories to the middle of the fence. Our tour guide was a middle-age woman who walked and talked fast though there was boredom in her voice. Everyone rushed to keep up with her as she rattled off facts. Fence mileage, number of guards stationed, length of shifts, employee rules.

I ignored Four's advice and didn't pay that much attention. I was far more entertained by Calvin imitating the tour guide's quirks behind her back and interested in looking off in the distance, trying to see any signs of the civilization that I knew lay just beyond the trees. A flock of birds took flight off a tree in the distance and I watched their formation as they traveled beyond my eye sight.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the initiates made their way off the fence to join their trainers and to wait by the tracks for the next train. After a couple minutes of waiting and with no sign of an oncoming train, an heated argument between the trainers erupted. There had been some miscommunication.

"I thought you had the train schedule memorized." Eric accused.

"I do, and I told you before we left that we had to be on the train at 11:30 if we wanted to be back at the compound in time for lunch." Apparently the tour had taken longer than anticipated.

"Well, shit. You could have reminded me. When is the next train passing through?"

"Not for awhile," Four checked his watch. "50 minutes."

Eric groaned. "This is the last year I come on this fucking field trip." He turned to his audience. "Well? Find something to do for the next hour of your life, but all your asses better be back here when the train comes or you will be left behind." The initiation group was frozen during their exchange but now sprung to life and scattered. I followed behind several members of the group as they began to ascend the stairs onto the fence once again. They only went up a couple of flights but I continued climbing until the sounds of chatter disappeared and my legs began to burn.

I walked across the length of the fence, my fingers trailing along the rail. I stopped after awhile and rested my forearms against the railing, enjoying the sun on my face. I figured I would soak up as much sun as possible before going back to the dark Dauntless compound.

Suddenly, I became aware of a presence behind me. He came forward to match my position, his muscular and tattooed arms resting closer to mine than I would have liked.

We stood in a silence that I refused to break. After a moment he reached into his pocket and pulled out a container. "Cigarette?" He put one between his teeth and offered the package to me.

I looked at his offering and checked his face to see if he was serious. He was, the question and cigarette hanging from his lips. I scoffed but then immediately changed my tone. Be nice, Olivia.

"No, thanks." I politely declined. I turned from him, looking back out over the horizon, not wanting to make eye contact. My pulse already starting to speed up. I chastised myself and my heartbeat. Stop It. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he put the container back in his pocket and lit his cigarette with a lighter. He took a few drags and we stood in silence until he spoke again.

"You should be thanking me."

"For what?"

"For calling you out on your bullshit. Your plan of going beneath the radar by pretending to be weak so the other initiates would go easy on you was never going to work. Nobody fell for it and now that you've built yourself quite the reputation, you've made some enemies."

"Yes..." The gears in my mind turning. "My plan... Well, it was worth a shot."

He shook his head. "Not here. Your strategy would have gotten you nowhere. It's pathetic, pretending to be weak, and there's no place in Dauntless for that behavior. The weakest, believe it or not, will not advance to the next stage."

I shrugged and changed the subject. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, surprised and a little scared at how accurate his words and observations were. "Don't you know those things will kill you?" I asked, turning to face him and gesturing to the object he held between his fingers.

Eric answered my question by taking another drag of his cigarette and blowing the smoke directly and slowly at my face. I kept a straight face as it hit me and kept breathing although the vile smoke filled my lungs and made me want to cough it out.

He grinned, taking another puff. "What's it to you?"

I didn't respond. He finished his cigarette and put it out, squashing it beneath his shoe. "How's your hand?" He asked, noticing that I was fidgeting with the straps on my wrist. I sighed, annoyed. I was sick of people asking me. "It's fine."

"I heard it was a hell of a fight. Sucks that I missed it."

"I'm sure it wasn't worth watching."

"Four talked about it at dinner, said that he's never been more surprised by an outcome of a fight. He didn't think that you would snap like that. Even Max seemed impressed."

I shook my head. "I shouldn't have hit her so much. I lost my temper."

"Then what should you have done? Lost?"

"No, it's just..." I thought for a second. "It was a rotten way to win. She was already injured. Have you heard anything about her condition? Apparently they're not telling anyone."

Eric lit up another cigarette before answering. "We didn't have the equipment to treat her so they sent her to Erudite to get more tests and to see what the long-term effects will be."

Relief flooded me. At least she was alive and getting help. "When will she be back?"

Eric shook his head. "If she gets better, Erudite gets to decide whether they want to keep her or not. She failed initiation the second she left, Dauntless is done with her."

My stomach dropped. "And if Erudite decides that they don't want her?"

"Then she's factionless."

He must have seen the look on my face because he quickly responded, taking half a step towards me, as if he wasn't already close enough. "Hey, you did what you had to do. Like I said, the weak don't belong here."

I scowled at him. He wasn't making this any better. "Sure." I turned to leave, done socializing for the day.

Eric grabbed my wrist as I tried to walk around him, stopping me from taking another step.

"Seriously, the sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be. You shouldn't be tying yourself down to them, to the weak. Those friends of yours? Better drop them now, they're not going to be around for much longer and when they get cut you won't have anyone. Start surrounding yourself with people who are more in your caliber. Get a support system." I was more aware of the fact that his hand was still around my wrist and that I could feel blood rushing to my face than I was to his advice.

"With who? With people like Skylar and Davis? Yeah, they're real nice guys." I replied sarcastically.

He feigned a surprised look on his face. "I thought Skylar was your boyfriend."

My laugh came out loud and abrupt. "Ha! He wishes."

He chuckled in response and then suddenly we were staring at each other. I could feel my pulse under the pressure of his fingers and I was certain he could feel it too because his head tilted to the side, like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

"Is that it? Can I go now?" I gently tugged against his grip. I couldn't look him in the eyes anymore. I look out to the horizon, then up at the sky, and then down to his hair and wondered if it was as soft as it looked.

He ignored me. "I still don't understand why you hide your talents. Don't you love the thrill of it? The power that comes from being the best?"

"No." I tugged more forcefully now, breaking his hold.

He hadn't been holding on that tight but when he let go, the ghost of the pressure still lingered on my skin. "Hm, I guess we're not as similar as I thought." He stepped back, took another drag of his cigarette, and crossed his arms.

"Guess not." I replied, but there was a part of me that knew I was lying. A part of me that recognized the truth in his words, however small it was, and was excited by it. Whatever guilt I felt about yesterday was overwhelming, but I was proud of how I have been doing in the fights so far and that scared the hell out of me.

Even though I was given permission to leave, for some reason I wanted to stay up here on the fence with Eric. He was quiet, I think he was waiting for me to say something else, but I forced myself to turn around and leave. I focused on composing myself as I walked down the stairs.

It had not been an hour, but the entire group was already gathered around the train tracks, they were taking Eric's threat seriously.

"You smell like smoke." Jenna informed me when I joined Calvin and her as they sat in the grass next to the tracks.

I sniffed my shirt as Calvin nudged Jenna and jerked his head towards the fence. Eric was descending the stairs and was walking towards the group. Still holding a cigarette between his fingers.

"Hmm." Jenna mused. "Interesting."

Calvin wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Did you have a good time?"

I shrugged. "It was fine."

"Fine? If I had been making out with one of our trainers I would be more than fine." Jenna said, a little too loudly for my taste.

I hushed her and they both laughed. "She's blushing." Calvin reported to Jenna.

"I am not!" I smacked his shoulder. "Shut up."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "We're just kidding, Olivia, calm down."

"I know." I looked around at the other initiates, looking for any signs that they had overheard our conversation. The last thing I needed were rumors about Eric and me.

The train ride back to the compound was uneventful except that Calvin kept dramatically moving his eyes and attention between Eric, who was thankfully not paying attention, and me. When the threat of another smack didn't stop him, I chose to ignore him, closing my eyes and trying to clear my mind.

As we got closer to Dauntless, Calvin, who soon became bored of his antics, got excited. "Do you think that we'll get to jump off the roof again?"


	8. Capture the Flag

Jenna and I sat quietly next to each other in the dining hall with matching bruises on our faces and on our bodies. We had been paired together for today's fights and it had been a good match. I was both surprised and impressed; she was learning fast and had gotten in a couple of good hits before I won.

The atmosphere at our table was somber. The missing member of our group, Calvin, had been less fortunate in his fight. When we entered the training room this morning and saw his name listed next to Davis, we immediately knew the outcome. Calvin insisted right up until his fight that he was going to be fine, but as soon as Davis knocked him to the ground we lost all hope.

I stabbed my fork into a piece of fruit and imagined it was Davis' face. He sat several tables over, smug over his recent victory, joking around with the other Erudite transfers. For now I would have to settle on taking my anger out on my food. I had to play nice, but what I wouldn't give to be able to wipe that smirk off his face and send him on his own journey to the infirmary.

The infirmary had yet to release Calvin and they were keen on continuing their new policy of barring visitors. They claimed that there were too many patients and that visitors were overcrowding the hospital rooms. I doubted this. I knew of one person that the infirmary claimed to harbor who was no longer there. News of Addie's departure had yet to be announced to the rest of the initiates and I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to share it.

"Are you done?" Jenna asked, standing up from the table and holding her tray. I followed her to the trash where we dumped our trays and exited the dining hall.

Weights and punching bags were not the only things waiting for us when we arrived back in the training room after lunch. Calvin, slightly woozy, was sitting on top of several bumper weights. Although it had only been a couple of hours, Jenna was ecstatic at his return and left me to partner up with him for the training exercises.

Eight was such a small number, especially when we doubled up. With Jenna and Calvin partnered up, I was unfortunately paired with Davis. For the exercises, one person ran laps around the gym while the other lifted weights, and then they would switch every time two laps were completed. After five rounds of this, Davis and I were the first ones done and we rested while we waited for the rest of the group to finish, leaning against the wall and drinking out of our water bottles.

"You're fast." Davis complimented me, taking a swig of his water bottle. His knuckles, slightly red with fresh marks from this morning, caught my attention when he lowered his drink and a bitter taste formed in my mouth. Calvin had had similar marks on his face this morning when they carried him off to get medical attention.

"Thanks, you are too." I took a sip of water from my bottle to wash away the taste. He didn't say anything else and we watched the rest of the initiates run around the gym and struggle to lift weights.

After a minute he broke the tension again. "Good fights this morning, huh?" He smiled down at me.

I gave him a look, trying to figure out where he was going with this. "Sure."

Davis smiled wider, "You'll have to show me how you put so much force behind your punches." He took my wrist and brought it up and lightly tapped it against his jaw, hitting the same spot where I had struck him days earlier, throwing his head back dramatically at the impact. "I'm still seeing stars."

"The trick is to get paired with someone who is too slow to block a punch." I took back my hand and took a step to the side. Doesn't anyone in Dauntless know about personal space?

"No, seriously." He put his water bottle on the ground. "Teach me how." Davis held up his arms in a fighting position and bounced back and forth on his heels. "Let's go!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Do you really want me to make an example out of you again? With all these people around?" I gestured to the room full of initiates, the majority of them finishing up with their final rounds. Part of me wished that he would make a move, I was itching for some action.

"Alright." He laughed and relaxed his posture. "Well, you'll have to teach me some other time. Maybe a private lesson." He winked.

Thankfully at this point the rest of the initiates had finished with their laps. Eric and Four took turns demonstrating various punches and kicks on punching bags and instructed us to practice for the rest of the training day. We remained in pairs, one person holding the bag and critiquing while the other practiced.

"Is that what Addie was?" Davis asked.

"What?" I kicked the bag.

"Too slow. You said that the key is to get paired with someone who was too slow to block a punch. Is that what Addie was? Slow?"

"She was slow because she had a brain injury." I kicked the bag again and he stumbled back. "Not because she lacked skill. But I can think of another person that I partnered with who was too slow."

"Jenna?"

I shook my head and laughed.

Davis thought for a minute and then snorted as he finally caught on. "Yeah, right. I let you hit me me."

"That's not what I remember."

"No, that's what happened. I didn't want to mess you up too badly so I let you have a couple." He clarified, anger rising in his voice.

"Sure." I teased as I punched the bag.

"It's true!" Davis insisted. "Besides, that was a one time thing. I bet given the opportunity, you wouldn't be able to get even one hit in."

His statement and the arrogance in his voice made my blood boil. I stood still for a second and we surveyed each other and then I lunged forward to prove him wrong. At his cry of pain the trainers were quickly by our sides. "What happened?" Four sounded concerned.

"She hit me!!" Davis accused. Taking one hand from his mouth to point a finger at me.

"I honestly don't know what happened." My voice was filled with surprise as I addressed Four and Eric. "He must have been standing too close to the bag."

Eric glanced between us and I could have sworn that I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. He addressed Davis, who was holding blood from his mouth in his hand. "Go get cleaned up, you're getting blood all over my floor."

Davis stalked away, muttering under his breath as he passed me. "Bitch."

"Snitch." I snapped back.

"Alright." Four stood behind the bag to hold it. "Let's continue, Olivia."

"I can do it." Eric offered.

"No, that's okay." Four said. "You should keep track of the other initiates, make sure that they're not fighting as well."

Eric looked reluctant, but he walked off and Four held the bag as I alternated between my punches and my kicks. "Good." Four approved after my kick managed to move the bag back about a foot. "But if you stepped out farther with your other leg in the beginning, you could add more power to your kick."

"Like that?" I kicked the bag again.

"Kind of." He walked around the bag to stand beside me. "It's kind of like this --" He demonstrated on the bag but when I tried it again he shook his head. "Here." He faced me and tapped the side of his leg where I should aim. I brought up my arms and took a large step before I raised my leg to kick at his side. As my foot was about to touch him, Four's arm darted out and pushed my shoulder, setting me off balance and causing me to miss. "Your loading step was too wide and you got too close to your opponent. Try again." We circled each other again and I sprung forward and lightly tapped my foot against his leg, not wanting to actually kick him.

"Good, you're going to want to practice those since you can't do much with your hand."

I nodded. "Absolutely, thanks." At Four's signal, the rest of the initiates started putting away equipment. It was almost time for dinner.

After dinner, Jenna, Calvin, and I stopped by the clothing store to pick up a couple more items. Calvin was acting subdued and when Jenna went into the changing room to try on a couple of tops he pulled me aside. "Butternut Squash, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Butternut Squash?"

"What? I'm hungry."

"We literally just ate."

"I'm always hungry."

I laughed, I had noticed that he was a bottomless pit when it came to food. "What did you want to talk about?"

He took a deep breath and stared at his shoes before he spoke. "I suck."

"Okay?"

"I don't know what it is. I try as hard as I can and train everyday, but I'm falling behind. I can't afford to lose anymore fights if I want to become Dauntless. I don't know what to do." His voice was thick with emotion and when his bruised face looked up at me, I could see that his eyes were blurred with tears. My heart started to ache in my chest. My hand began to dart out as if to comfort him but I drew it back and folded my arms before I spoke. I wasn't sure how Calvin would react if I were to hug him.

I racked my brain for something to say. "You need a different strategy than what they're teaching us. You'd be better off playing defense, moving fast and staying on your feet. When they knock you down, you have to get back up. When they move to hit you, you have to block it. You've already gotten hit too much."

He wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Don't want to end up like Addie, huh?"

I gave him a small, pained smile. "Yeah. You don't want to be in her position."

"Could you teach me?" This new idea causing him to light up. "You're really good at fighting and would be a better teacher than Four or Eric. They have no patience and I'm sure they only view me as a waste of time."

"I wouldn't say that." I said, and although my tired brain and sore muscles protested, I agreed to his proposal. "Sure, as soon as Jenna is finished here we'll talk to her and go back to the training room."

"Um," Calvin looked uncomfortable. "Could we keep this between us? She probably has her own stuff to worry about."

"Really? She could help, she has gotten better at fighting--" I cut myself off as realization dawned on me. I understand that it's hard to admit weakness, especially to those close to you. "Okay. We don't have to tell anyone." I looked at the watch on his wrist. "We have a couple of hours, hopefully the training room hasn't been locked yet." We started to exit the store when a voice stopped us.

"Where are you guys going?" We turned around, Jenna's arms were full of clothes and she looked confused. I looked to Calvin for help.

His voice was bright and his smile was wide as he addressed Jenna. "We're going to go... get our nails done. We'll see you later, okay?"

She squinted her eyes at us but nodded. "Okay." He grabbed my arm and yanked me away from her.

"Great alibi." I whispered to him sarcastically as we left the store.

"Hey, I didn't see you coming up with any ideas, Squash."

Luckily the training room was still open. I decided to teach Calvin the kicks Four taught me earlier. After a several of those, I rubbed my hip where he had been aiming. His determination causing the force behind his kick to be swift and painful. "Good." I approved. "Let's move onto something different." I brought up my arms and we circled each other. "Try to stay on your feet." Was the only thing I said before I moved to attack him. He dodged my leg as I tried to sweep his feet out from underneath him, but was caught off guard when I shoved his shoulder and he fell on the ground.

He didn't get up right away. "Let's face it." Lying on the ground, Calvin raked his hands through his hair. "When the first stage of initiation is over I'll be one of the four people leaving."

"One of three." I automatically corrected him.

"Three?" He sat up to look at me. "Why do you say that?"

"Um..." I scratched the back of my neck. "Someone has already left so only three people will be getting cut at after the first stage."

"No shit." Calvin gasped. "Who?"

"Addie."

"I thought she was still in the infirmary."

"No. Eric told me yesterday, she's really messed up so they sent her back to Erudite."

"Huh. I didn't know they could do that."

I shrugged. "I guess they made an exception for her." I motioned for him to get back on his feet. "Let's continue."

When the clock on the wall said 11:00 we ended our training session and headed to the dormitories. After a quick shower I couldn't wait to get in my bed and sleep. I nestled under my blanket and smashed my face against the pillow and was asleep for what seemed like a second before a door burst open and a voice shouted.

"EVERYBODY UP!!"

The lights flashed on in the dorms and the initiates simultaneously shielded their eyes from the florescent light and groaned. "What in the shitting hell--" Calvin muttered exasperatedly as he threw his pillow over his head to block out the light. I sat up, put my feet on the cold concrete floor, and wrapped myself in my blanket. What is the shitting hell was right. It was the middle of the night, what was going on? Four crossed in between the beds, wearing a jacket and boots. "Get up! Get dressed!" He ordered. "We meet in The Pit in 15 minutes."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I helped Jenna find her socks and she put my hair back in a ponytail. We jogged out of the room with the rest of our peers and entered The Pit to see a swarm of Dauntless-born initiates and trainers. "What's going on?" Jenna asked me, as if I had the answers.

"No idea." I responded. There was excitement in the air, the initiates were loud and their voices echoed off the walls and adrenaline started pumping through my veins. This nervous energy continued as the group made their way outside and into a train. Once inside the bumpy train car, Four, Eric, and Lauren began emptying and distributing duffel bags of black guns and packages of multi-colored ammunition.

"Everybody take a packet of paintballs." Four said as he handed out packages. "The game is simple. We will divide into two teams and each team will be given a flag to hide. The objective is to find and capture the other team's flag. The team that gets their flag stolen first loses. The ending of the game will be signaled by an air horn, at which point everyone will meet back at the train tracks. Clear?"

I was relieved that we were only playing a game and that these were nonlethal weapons. I loaded the ammunition into my gun and clicked the chamber closed and stuffed the rest of the paintballs into my jacket pocket. I didn't know what I expected but I wouldn't put it past Dauntless to play a game with real guns.

"Do you want to choose first?" Eric asked Four, scratching his eyebrow.

"Sure." Four didn't bother looking up as he continued loading his own paintballs into his gun. "I'll take Skylar."

Elated at being picked first, Skylar went to stand by Four, beaming with pride.

"Alright." Eric searched the crowd until we made eye contact. "Daniel." He said. Although he didn't call my name, he didn't look away, and a burly man who I was certain was not a teenager departed from the group to stand by Eric's side.

"Olivia."

I pulled my eyes away from Eric to look at Four. "What?"

"You're on my team." Four spoke slowly, as if I was child.

"Oh. Right." I mentally scolded myself for not paying attention and moved to stand beside Four, hoping that he didn't start regretting this decision. Skylar gave me a high five as I joined them. "Go team!" He grinned.

"Okay..." Eric scanned the rest of the initiates as if he was looking for someone. "Tyler." He finally said.

The rest of the initiates were soon split up with Jenna and Calvin chosen by Eric when there were only a handful of initiates left. "My team will get off first." Eric informed Four and soon the number of people left in the train car was cut in half.

"Eric must be worried if he wants a head start." Four smiled slightly. "We'll be getting off in a couple of minutes, does anybody have any suggestions or strategies? This is supposed to be a team effort." He pulled a bright neon green fabric out of his pocket and tossed it to one of the Dauntless-born initiates. The girl studied the flag's material and thought for a second. "As soon as we get off, hide the flag as fast as possible, and then go after the other team. They've got a head start so we have to act fast."

Everyone on the train nodded in agreement at the plan and Four seemed to take it into consideration. "Anybody else?"

Skylar piped up. "Most of us should go on the offensive with only a few left behind to defend the flag. Our best bet is to hit them quickly with large numbers to overwhelm them."

Four nodded. "Sounds good. Let's get off the train now."

We jumped from the train, walked through a couple city blocks, over a bridge, and then alongside a series of small buildings. I looked around. We were on the pier. "Where are we going to hide the flag?" Four asked once we were at the far end of the pier.

The group looked around at the buildings and I looked up. "How about there?" I pointed to the only second-story structure in sight. "Easier to defend and we could see them coming." Everyone agreed with me and a couple people ran to deposit the flag and soon rejoined the group, the green glow of the flag was barely visible through the open window.

"What now?" Four asked the group.

"Split up." Skylar said, "We need to move. Now."

"We'll leave two behind. Who's it going to be?" Four studied us, waiting for volunteers.

There was silence before I raised my hand. "I'll stay." I offered. The adrenaline from earlier was wearing off and I was no longer in the mood to keep running through the pier at 2 o'clock in the morning trying to find a piece of cloth.

"Okay." Four agreed. "Michael, you'll stay here as well. Defend the flag with your life." We all laughed. "Let's go." He jerked his head and the rest of group followed his lead, running behind him as they disappeared into the night.

In their absence the darkness hummed. Michael and I paced back and forth a couple of buildings over from where the flag was hidden and I listened for the air horn, the signal that the game was over, but could only hear the sound of our muffled footsteps as we walked across the pavement. "It sucks that we got left behind." He bounced up and down on his toes as we reached one end of the pier. "We're missing out on all the action." He sighed. I muttered in agreement but couldn't care less. I looked over to the city and could almost hear my bed calling for my return.

Minutes passed and Michael grew more agitated. "They should have gotten it by now. Do you think they're in trouble?" He asked, this new idea causing him to start wondering off in the direction where the group had left us. "They might need reinforcements."

"I'm sure they're fine. It hasn't been that long." I told him but he ignored me and continued walking into the distance, and then called over his shoulder. "Hold down the fort, okay? I'll be right back. I just want to see what they're up to." I was about to hiss at him to get back here but then I remembered that I didn't actually give a shit and by then he had disappeared from view.

I continued to walk around, holding my gun slack and humming a tune. It was peaceful. There was a slight chill in the night air and the moon was full. However, the longer it took Michael to return, the more restless I became. If the game wasn't going to end soon and if other team came here then it would be better to stay closer to the flag. I could use that second-story window as some sort of sniper nest. I started to make my way back to the flag, weaving in between buildings. As I exited an alleyway, I froze and listened for a second before I spun around, holding my gun tightly in my hands and pointing it outwards into the darkness. I was being followed, and I was sure it wasn't Michael.

A figure emerged from the shadows and asked a question. "Where's the flag?"

"Where's your team?" I countered.

"Being held up by your team, I imagine." He continued walking towards me. "I managed to break through the fighting and I didn't think there would be much defense. Guess I was right."

"I wouldn't take another step if I were you." I warned him, keeping my gun fixed on his approaching figure.

Eric smirked but slowed his pace. "You're not really going to shoot me." He arched an eyebrow and there was amusement in his eyes.

I smiled back at him as I pulled the trigger.

The look of shock on his face was almost comical as he touched the blue paint that splattered across the front of his jacket. "My jacket!" He gasped.

"Sorry," The gun clicked as the chamber reloaded and I aimed at him again. "You were saying?"

"I said that you wouldn't shoot--"

He was cut off as another paintball exploded across his jacket. I grinned and changed my mind, I wasn't bored anymore. This was fun. The smile was soon wiped off my face as a sharp, stinging force struck me in the stomach and paint covered my abdomen. I touched my stomach out of disbelief and my fingers came away pink. "Ow." I told him.

He reloaded his gun. "Sorry, sweetheart." He looked over my shoulder and I turned to see what he was looking at. The building which hid the flag was a couple hundred feet away and the green glow of the flag was visible through the window. By the time I had turned back around Eric had disappeared and I panicked. He must have spotted it and was heading over there now.

I sprinted towards the flag and when I was in the alley outside of the building I paused, listening for any movement, my heartbeat loud in my ears. I peeked around the corner and saw Eric several buildings down, slowly making his way towards the entrance of the building, pointing his gun down each alleyway, wary that I was going to be after him. I moved to cut him off. Slipping through buildings and running in the shadows, I was soon behind him. He had yet to notice my presence and I raised my gun, aimed, and fired. As the paint sprayed across his back, I ducked into the shadows. He jumped at the impact and turned around. Eric scanned his surroundings and when his eyes slipped right over where I was hiding, I exhaled the breath I was holding. He looked around one more time before he changed tactics and started running towards the flag.

"Fuck." I whispered as I ran after him, firing my gun rapidly to try and stop him. Some of the paintballs went flying over his shoulders but the majority made their impact on his back and legs. After several strikes to the same spot on his shoulder, he stopped running and turned around to face me.

"Can you not."

"What?" I innocently replied. "If you zig-zagged you wouldn't get hit as much." I aimed at his chest and pulled the trigger again, but this time I only heard a click. Empty. My hand darted into my jacket and I froze when my fingers found nothing. The packet of the paintballs must have fallen out somewhere. Eric smirked, "Well, it's been fun." He winked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go win the game." He turned around and started towards the flag's hiding place once again.

I did the only thing I could think of. I ran after him, and as I caught up I stuck my foot to trip him. Eric must not have heard my footsteps because he was caught off guard and although he did not fall, he stumbled forward a couple steps and then looked back to see what he had tripped over. I used his moment of weakness to kick the gun from his grasp and we both watched as it flew through the air and skidded to a stop several feet away. Before he could respond, I ran around him, towards his gun, and as I bent over to pick it up a force yanked me to the side and I fell on the ground where a weight held me down.

"Get off!" I squirmed, annoyed that I wasn't able to get the gun.

"What?" Eric replied, his voice was close to my ear and filled with the same innocence that mine had been. "If you zig-zagged you wouldn't have gotten tackled." I lifted my head to see the gun a foot away from my head and my arms sprung out to grab it. As my fingers grazed against the barrel of the gun, Eric rolled us to the side, away from the gun, and I cursed as it slipped through my fingers. As soon as I was pinned on my stomach again, Eric was gone and I watched him jump over me towards his gun. I grabbed his ankle with both hands and yanked. As he fell onto one knee, I sprung up and pushed him out of the way as I dove on his gun. I rolled onto my back and fired the gun once into his chest before he was on me once again and smacked the gun out of my hands. I pushed against him as I tried to pounce on the gun again but he held me back. We struggled for a second and before I knew it, my arms were constrained down and I couldn't move.

There was a beat after he had pinned my arms above my head that I had burst out laughing. Here I was, rolling around with a Dauntless leader over a pointless game of capture the flag. I'm sure when Anderson told me to be nice to Eric, this isn't what he meant. Eric looked confused at my outburst. "Look, I'm going to let you go. Don't go after me again, next time I won't be so nice." His voice was threatening but his eyes weren't that serious.

Before I could think of a response, something vibrated against my hip. We both froze and looked at each other with wide eyes before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He glanced at the screen. "Stay still." He warned me as he pressed a button on the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello, Jeanine."

I couldn't hear the voice at the other end but I could only think of one person named Jeanine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black object lying on the ground. Eric had released my hands to answer the phone and they were now free and itching for his gun.

"I'll have someone set up the equipment. The infirmary will be ready in the morning."

Now. I pushed my feet against the ground and scooted out from underneath him until I connected with his gun and I whipped around to point it at Eric who was still frozen in his position, phone to his ear, with a furrowed brow and a gaped mouth as he realized what I had done and as if he was about to yell out to me. He closed his mouth before he spoke into the phone again. "Can I call you back? Yeah. Two minutes."

We both slowly stood up and I kept the gun level between us. I raised my eyebrows, pleased over my victory, daring him to make a move.

And he did. He turned around and started sprinting towards the flag and I was quick to follow after him. The paintballs that continued to explode across his jacket didn't slow him and soon we were racing up the stairs to the second-story. Luckily, he didn't know which way to go and took a wrong turn so while he darted to the left, I ran into the room at the right to stand in front of the flag. Soon, he appeared in the doorway and stood there when he saw me blocking his path. "It's over." He said, "Paintballs won't stop me. You've lost, step aside."

I believed him when he said that paintballs wouldn't stop him, so I responded by dropping his gun and raising my fists into a fighting position, refusing to step aside. "Over my dead body." I replied. I was kidding. I think. However, there was no time to measure how serious I was, because the sound of an air horn rang through the air. My team had gotten the other team's flag and the game was over.

We both relaxed our positions, I put down my fists and he ran a hand through his hair. "You put up a hell of a fight." He admitted. We were both breathing hard and I could feel the sweat forming on the back of my neck. Eric walked forward and picked up his gun before he pulled something out of his pocket and pressed a button to illuminate the screen. "I have to return a call. Grab the flag and head back to the tracks." He turned around as he entered something into his phone.

I unhooked the flag from the wall and put it into my jacket pocket. "Okay." I walked down the stairs and out into the night, the adrenaline still pumping in my veins. Walking across the pavement, I picked up my gun that I had tossed to the side before I tripped Eric, and started off towards the city and towards the train tracks.

I hadn't gone much further before I was slammed into the ground again. This time with much more force, my chin and forearms painfully scrapping against the ground, my gun rolling out of my hands. "Ouch. Fuck." I yelled out as I was pinned to the ground, a knee pressing into my back. "Cut it out Eric, that hurt. The game is over."

When there was nothing but silence, my blood froze. This wasn't Eric.

"Hold her down, Jeremy!" A soprano voice rang out from inside the nearest building and I looked to see two figures emerge from the darkness of the doorway dressed in over-sized, tattered clothing. Factionless. What are they doing here? They're not supposed to be out here.

That's when I started screaming.

"HELP!!" I yelled out, twisting around to knock off whoever was on my back.

"Shit! Shut her up!" The other factionless figure demanded. "She'll bring down the rest of her patrol on us." A large hand covered my mouth but I continued to scream against it. I was lifted onto my feet, my gun was picked up, and I was pushed forward into the building. Inside, mats and blankets covered the dirty floor and the door was shut behind us.

The factionless woman paced in front of me, holding a small, rusty knife in my direction as she questioned me. "Where is the rest of your squadron?" She asked.

The hand was removed from my mouth and it wrapped itself tightly around my throat. "Squadron?" I asked, puzzled and terrified, taking big gulps of air.

"Yes, squadron. You're Dauntless right? Here to drive us out of our home? Make us go live back in the city? Shoot us if we don't comply?" She jabbed her knife in the direction of my gun, which the other factionless man was aiming at me.

"No! There's been a mistake. I'm not a part of a squadron, I'm only a Dauntless initiate, we're out here playing a game. That's not even a real gun, it only shoots paintballs and it's empty anyway."

"Lies." She declared and my heart sank.

"It's true." I pleaded, "See for yourself."

She gestured towards the factionless man and he opened the chamber of the gun to look inside. "It's empty." He said.

I spoke up. "You have to let me go. They're going to be looking for me." The factionless shared a look and I spoke again. "Please." I cried. "I won't tell anybody that I saw you."

She was skeptical. "Why should we trust you?"

"Because I'm on your side."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The man asked and the woman shushed him. "Enough." She said, growing impatient. "Dauntless cannot be trusted. We'll keep her here for the night and in the morning the others will decide what to do with her."

I opened my mouth to speak again but the woman gave orders before I could get any words out. "Cover her mouth. I don't want to hear any more of her lies."

The hand covered my mouth again and my pulse thudded in my chest as I scanned the room. I was going to have to fight my way out. I made my body go slack and when the arms on me were slightly loosened, I brought up my heel to kick the man who held me, Jeremy, in the groin and when his hand was gone from my mouth I continued my screaming. "HELP!! HELP!!"

With Jeremy keeled over in pain, the factionless man and woman ran up to silence me. I dodged their advances and screamed again as she tried to take a swipe at me with her knife.

"ERIC!!"

"Shut her the fuck up!" The woman roared and the factionless man moved to grab me. When he got close enough I kicked him in the stomach with as much force as I could muster. He doubled over and I kicked him again, pushing him into a corner of the room. I moved to kick him in the head but a sharp prick against my throat stopped me in my tracks. The factionless woman had managed to get behind me and her breath was rancid as she held her knife against my neck. I felt the fight leaving my body, I couldn't move without her slicing my throat.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open and Eric flew in, his gun trained on the factionless. Relief flooded through me and I almost started laughing out of joy.

"Freeze!" He ordered them, his voice low, commanding, and a little scary. "Put down your weapons."

They were stunned when he entered, but then one of the factionless men laughed. "That's not a real gun, the girl told us." He pointed to my gun, which was lying on the ground, as evidence. "We have one of our own."

"Oh, yeah?" Eric reached behind him and pulled something out from underneath his jacket, brandishing a black handgun. "That's fine, I can guarantee that this one is real."

The smiles disappeared from their faces and the knife against my throat clattered to the ground.

"Olivia." Eric motioned me forward with his hand and I almost ran towards him. As I got close, he swept me behind him with his arm and my fingers clung to the back of his jacket. He kept his gun trained on the factionless as we backed out of the room and as soon as we were on the pier, he quickly turned around and almost bumped into me.

"Run." Was all he said.

And we did. Our shoes slapped against the pavement and I pumped my arms to keep up with his long strides. I kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting a swarm of factionless to descend upon us. Whether from exhaustion or from shorter legs, I was beginning to fall behind and could tell that Eric was slowing down to stay with me. As our pace slowed, he handed me his paintball gun, and I painfully grasped it in my bandaged hand. "Here," He extended his now empty hand towards me. "Give me your hand."

With my hand encased in his, we set off again, much faster this time as he pulled me along. As we grossed the bridge into the city, we slowed down to a jog and my breath was leaving my body in gasps. He let go of my hand and took back the paintball gun. "Catch your breath." He told me. I bent over, putting my hands on my knees and trying to concentrate on breathing in through my mouth and out through my nose. Eric was still on edge and was scanning our surroundings. "We're almost to the tracks, do you think you can make it?"

"Yes." I said as I continued to try to regulate my breathing.

He nodded. "Okay. Let's go." And we set off again. In the distance I saw the group gathered around the train tracks and we were soon approaching them. The initiates were loud, rowdy, and covered in paint with a couple of Dauntless-borns passing Eric's team flag between themselves, studying the flag's material and discussing the events that had just happened. Four separated himself from the group and made his way over to us as Eric and I got near.

"Took you guys long enough, you've been missing out on the celebration." The smile fell from Four's face as his gaze moved from Eric to me. "What's wrong? Why is she bleeding?"

"Listen." Eric said, his voice anxious. "We need to get the initiates out of here. Immediately. We were ambushed by a group of armed factionless, we managed to fend them off but I'm not sure how many of them are out still out here. Get the group on the train and I'll call for backup."

Eric's words had caused a silence to fall and the other initiates stared at us, dumbfounded and a little scared. Eric pulled his phone out of his pocket and while it was dialing he addressed Four and gestured toward me. "Make sure she gets on the train. I think she's still in shock." With that, he left me and started walking back towards the pier.

The sound of the train approaching from the distance broke the silence that Eric had left behind and the initiates were visibly anxious to get on the train.

"I'm bleeding?" I asked Four.

"Yeah." He gestured to his own chin and throat. "Just a little bit."

I touched my chin, my fingers coming away red and sticky. "Oh. Gross."

"We'll go to the infirmary as soon as we get back and get you cleaned up."

I was still studying my fingers. "Okay." I wiped my bloody fingers on my pants as the train approached. Four jumped on first and then pulled me up after him. I searched the group for Jenna and Calvin and received curious stares from the Dauntless-born initiates. I located my friends and sat next to them as the train made its bumpy journey back to the compound.


	9. Fights

"Are you that girl?"

I looked up from shifting my spoon through my oatmeal to see a couple pairs of curious eyes focused on me. "Huh?"

The girl that had spoken looked nervous to be talking to me, but she addressed me again anyway. "Are you the one that we saw on the train last night? The one that was supposedly attacked by a group of factionless?"

I shot Calvin and Jenna a look and then dropped my spoon in my food so that I could rub a hand across my tired eye. "Yup, that's me." Breakfast had barely started and I was already bored of repeating this story. First to Four and to the doctor on duty in the infirmary while I got my chin and neck bandaged up and then to some of the transfer initiates when I returned back to the dorm.

"Sick." The guy next to the girl commented. "Everyone's been talking about you and about what happened last night."

"Great." I said, dropping my eyes and picking up my spoon to take another bite of my food, wanting to go back to eating my breakfast in peace.

The girl's hand shot across the table to shake hands and introduce herself. "I'm Ava, and this is Tyler." She offered me her left hand so I reluctantly brought up my left hand out from underneath the table and gently placed it in hers. Ava gasped as she softly shook my bandaged hand. "Did the factionless do this to you?" She whispered.

Her somber tone caused Calvin to snort, which he attempted to cover up with a cough, and I decided it would be easier to not contradict her. Explaining the story behind my hand this early in the morning would require more effort than I was willing. "Yes," I whispered back, matching her energy.

Ava's eyes grew wide and she looked even more aghast. "You poor thing!"

Tyler shook his head with disapproval but put his elbows on the table to lean in closer. "Horrible. But what happened? We don't know the full story." He gestured his head towards Ava to connect the two of them. "We'd love to know some details."

Ava eagerly nodded her head but was silent, giving me the opportunity to speak. I thought over all the events that had occurred last night. "Well--" I started and stopped myself. The image of a paint-soaked Dauntless leader's jacket stuck out in my mind and the memory of how warm his hand had been around mine as we ran down the pier together caused me to stare at the back of my hand. "I don't know where to start."

"How many factionless were there?" asked Tyler.

I leaned back in my chair and yawned, preparing myself to recount this story once again, but Calvin spoke out, inserting himself into the conversation. "There were about fifteen of them, right Olivia?" There was a spark in his eyes as he nonverbally communicated with me to play along. I suppressed the smile I could feel forming on my lips and nodded. "At least." I replied.

Tyler and Ava were enthralled. "Were they armed?"

"Yes." I said, touching the small bandage on my chin from when I had been knocked to the ground and the bandage on my neck where the factionless woman had briefly held a knife to my throat. I had checked the cuts this morning and they had stopped bleeding, but I replaced the bandages to keep the wounds clean and I planned to remove them after training. "A lot of them had knives and they managed to nick me a couple of times."

"You fought them?"

"Olivia is one of the top initiates in our class." Calvin said. "Of course she fought them." He gestured over to the table where Davis was sitting. "See that guy over there? Olivia knocked him out cold our first week here with a single hit." He was beaming with pride and I was beginning to feel somewhat bashful. Tyler and Ava studied Davis, who was thankfully not paying attention, and then turned back to us.

"Badass." Tyler finally declared and reached across the table to fist bump me. He pointed to my bandaged wrist. "That's when you injured your hand? When you were fighting the factionless?"

"Not exactly." I played with the straps on my wrist. "Escaping the factionless that ambushed me was the easy part. It was when I had to go back and rescue Eric that I got hurt. He was surrounded by another group of factionless and I had to practically drag him out of there." I huffed like I was annoyed and Jenna covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. "I had to do all the work, he was completely helpless without me."

A booming laughter erupted from the end of the table. "Is that right, Eric?" Our group looked to see Dauntless leaders Max and Eric eating their breakfast several seats over. I hadn't realized that they were there. Eric looked as tired as I felt. His hands were wrapped around a cup of coffee, wisps of steam escaping from the top. "Spreading lies?" Eric asked me as he took a sip of his drink.

"I would never." I promised him and he chuckled and went back to his coffee.

Max made eye contact with me and nodded his head approvingly. "That story sounds about right. Isn't that exactly what you explained to me this morning, Eric?" He clapped Eric on the shoulder and Eric hummed in response. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent against his skin and he looked up from his drink. "It's not what I remember." Was all he said.

Calvin and Jenna were grinning beside me but our new acquaintances, Ava and Tyler, were deadly silent and were now looking rather uncomfortable. Ava chewed her bottom lip, drummed her fingers against the table, and looked away from the group, as if she was no longer interested in participating in the conversation now that the Dauntless leaders had joined us. Tyler's eyes shot up from his plate to glance at Eric and then they quickly went back down to his lap. What was their problem? Were they afraid of Eric? I found that hilarious.

Max opened his mouth to say something else but he must have spotted something across the room because he shot up from his seat. "What the fuck is she doing here?" He whispered tensely to Eric.

Eric stood up as well, suddenly wide awake. "Shit. I forgot she was coming." I followed their gaze towards the entrance of the dining hall to see a group of people dressed in blue. A woman with short blonde hair stood in the middle, holding a dark folder in her folded arms. Abandoning their trays, Max and Eric quickly walked to the exit and soon joined the Erudites and disappeared from view.

"On that note--" Calvin cleared his throat--"are you ready for our appointment?" He stood up from the table.

I drew my eyes away from the dining hall exit and towards Calvin, realizing that he was talking to me. "Appointment?" He raised his eyebrows and stared at me until I caught on. "Right. Our appointment," I pointed to my half-eaten food, "give me a couple of minutes, I'll meet you there."

I put a couple spoonfuls into my mouth and quickly chewed and Calvin left. I choked down the last of my food and was gathering up my napkin and cup onto my tray when Jenna grabbed me by the arm. "Where are you guys going?"

"Calvin is getting another tattoo and he wanted my opinion."

"Now? There's only forty-five minutes until training starts. Can't it wait until after dinner?"

"I guess not."

She studied my face and I could tell that she didn't believe me but she let me go. "Okay." I felt bad lying to her and would have to talk to Calvin about letting her in on our private training lessons. "Nice to meet the two of you." I told Ava and Tyler and they smiled in response.

"Likewise." Tyler said and as I left they put their heads together and started whispering. I deposited my tray and scanned The Pit as I exited the dining hall, looking for any sign of the Erudite group. Calvin would have to wait. I had also forgotten that Jeanine was coming. I headed towards the infirmary, Eric had promised on the phone that it would be set up in time for her arrival, but based on their reactions it was not. Set up for what, I wondered. We knew that Jeanine had been recently increasing her communication with the Dauntless leaders and that their search for Divergent was expanding, but why was she coming to Dauntless and using their hospital?

There were only a few people in the hallways as I made my way through the compound. When I got closer to the infirmary, I slowed my pace and listened. Up ahead, the sound of voices echoed off the walls and alerted me that there was a group of people talking in the next hallway. A feminine voice was especially prominent and as soon as I was close enough to make out the conversation I stopped, remaining close to the walls and hiding in the shadows the best I could.

"--more disappointed in the complete lack of preparation on your end." I caught the latter part of Jeanine's sentence when her sharp and tense voice traveled down the hallway. I inched closer to the sound and the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up.

"I can assure you, Jeanine, that this won't happen again," Max said.

"You're right, it won't. We will reconvene in two days, in my own lab this time, to make sure that we are ready to run the simulations and that nobody will be kept waiting." Jeanine paused before she spoke again. "Are you sure that you'll be able to remember that? You seem to be more distracted than usual these past couple days."

"I'll remember." Eric curtly responded and a silence followed. I could picture how Jeanine and Eric were staring at each other. Jeanine's face expressionless as she offered the challenge and Eric's face cold as he stood still, as if he was made out of stone.

"Okay. We will see you then."

I've heard enough. At Jeanine's farewell, I withdrew, picking up the pace the farther I got away, wanting to put distance between the Erudites and myself. Before joining Calvin, I stopped inside the supply closet and sent a brief message to the Bureau about what I had just witnessed.

"Just so you know, Jenna thinks you're getting a new tattoo." I told Calvin as I walked into the training room. He had his arm behind his head, stretching his muscles. He looked confused. "But I'm not getting a new tattoo?"

"I know, but that's what I told her. She's getting suspicious so unless you want to tell her the truth, we should have our stories straight."

"That's fine.. a new tattoo." Calvin thought about it. "Can it be a dragon?"

I smiled. "Sure." I motioned him to move forward onto the mat. "I think we'll practice our blocks today. We have our last fights tomorrow and if you can stay on your feet, block their attacks, and hit them at the right moment, you should do okay."

"Right." Calvin said, raising his arms in a defensive position.

"Protect your face and head. Step backwards or to the side as much as you can, but getting hit here--" I tapped his forearms--" is going to be a lot better than the alternative." I brought my foot up to his leg. "If they're going to kick you and if you can't jump out of the way in time, twist to absorb it as much as you can and then try and get your opponent off-balanced. Clear?" I asked as I moved to attack him, not giving him any time to answer.

By the time the rest of the initiates had arrived inside the room, Calvin and I were both tired. The fighting mat felt like heaven beneath me and I felt like I could curl up and sleep, but we both got up as soon as Jenna entered the room. "How's your new tattoo?" Jenna asked as she joined our group.

"It's a dragon and it's totally badass," he answered.

"Good?" Jenna didn't seem to know how to respond but she didn't have to. As she spoke, Four and Eric walked into the room. Or, in Eric's case, stormed into the room. Everyone could sense the change that Eric brought with him and all talking ceased. He scanned the room, and grew more discontented. "Well? Are you going to stand there, or are you going to get to work?" He demanded.

The initiates sprung forward into action, grabbing throwing knives from Four and then scattering to align themselves in front of the targets. Eric paced back and forth behind us and as the knives thudded against the backboards, I muttered advice to Calvin. "Release your knife sooner." I kept an eye on Eric, making sure that he was pacing at the further end of the group before whispering to Calvin. Not wanting to draw any attention to the fact that he was throwing poorly.

"Not that soon." Calvin's knife flew up in the air and fell short of the target by a couple feet. I flinched as it clattered to the ground. "Nice," I commented.

Calvin yawned, "I'm sure if I had a quick 20-minute nap I could throw better."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's going to happen," I sarcastically replied, although the heaviness behind my limbs agreed with him. I could use a fluffy pillow, several soft blankets, and an uninterrupted couple of hours.

"We could gather the mats together and have community nap time." He mused. "I'm sure I could be very cozy, Eric looks like he would be a great spooner. Unless you want him? He seems to only like you."

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing out loud at the mental image that put in my head. "I'm good, you can have first dibs."

"Thank you so much. Maybe in his big, strong, tattooed arms I can finally find rest."

"What was that, initiate?"

Calvin stopped halfway through throwing and I could see all the muscles in his body freeze up. We didn't hear Eric approach and I should have been watching. He stood behind Calvin, the physique and height difference between them staggering. Calvin lowered his arm and looked to me. I briefly shook my head, communicating with him to be silent. I was sure that Eric had heard what Calvin had said and was daring him to repeat it, but it would not best for Calvin to repeat what he had just said to Eric's face.

"I am very interested to know what you said, initiate. Please repeat it louder for everyone to hear." His request came out as a threat and Calvin remained quiet, his face was flushed and his eyes were glued to the ground. The rest of the initiation class was watching this interaction between knife throws and I made eye contact with Jenna, she looked afraid and a little angry, and she directed me with a motion of her hand to get involved.

"Are you disobeying a direct order from your superior?" Eric took a step menacingly towards Calvin and I spoke up.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

That worked. Eric turned from Calvin to focus his attention on me. "Do you have something you want to say?" I automatically translated his question as an invitation to shut up, but ignored it. He hadn't changed his tone, but at least Calvin was now forgotten as Eric took several steps in my direction. I felt my own face growing red under his pressure but I put on a forced smile as I stared back at him.

"Just a general observation." I shrugged, trying to sound blasé and pleasant, although my heart hammered in my chest. The Eric that I had rolled around with on the Pier only hours before had disappeared and was now replaced with this stern, threatening Dauntless leader. "I think we could all use some sleep is all." My voice grew quieter as he approached.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" He scoffed and his words jabbed at my insides, physically hurting for some reason. I didn't reply and he crossed his arms and looked as if he was processing something. "Alright." He said, waving his hand around the gym. "Five laps. Both of you. Go!"

I strode past Eric and grabbed a fistful of Calvin's shirt and dragged him along with me as we began running away from the group. I wanted to get Calvin away from him as fast as possible, before Calvin could open his mouth and say something else that would actually get us in trouble. Running was an easy punishment as far as I was concerned. After a lap and a half around the gym, Calvin was wheezing. "Slow down," he gasped.

"We're barely jogging," I told him, "and we're going to have to pick up the pace if you don't want to get yelled at again." We finished our assigned laps, with me dragging Calvin along at certain points in order for him to keep up, and we went back to throwing knives. I didn't whisper anymore counsel to Calvin, but it didn't seem like he needed it. He was alert now, and whether it was from the running or from the fear of Eric, he was throwing much better and before I knew it we were dismissed for lunch.

During lunchtime, Calvin and Jenna appointed themselves as my spokespersons. Every so often an individual would come up to me, asking questions about capture the flag or the factionless, and they would either be shooed away or given a snippet of the exaggerated story we had created this morning.

After lunch we practiced with guns at the shooting range. With only a few words of advice from me before we began, Calvin was turning into quite the sharpshooter and I was proud at how well he was doing. Jenna also noticed his progress and congratulated him at the end of the training session. I noted how he blushed under her praise.

At the dinner table, Calvin ate his weight in food and then we snuck off to an empty room to practice. I took into account his height and small stature as I demonstrated various offensive moves, which he then practiced on me. He was going to need to be smart and quick on his feet in order to win his fight tomorrow. I racked my brain to produce a list of his possible opponents and we went over each of their weaknesses. He had already been paired against two of the best fighters so chances were that he would have to fight someone of a lower caliber.

I rewarded Calvin's hard work by a trip to the tattoo parlor. The idea of a dragon tattoo had been stuck in his head all day, and he was so excited that it was difficult for him to lie still on the table while he got his calf inked. "His name is Steve." He told Jenna as he showed off his new tattoo and as I got ready for bed. Although the night was still young and the rest of the Dauntless compound was preparing for its night life, most of the initiates were exhausted and we were brushing our teeth and changing into pajamas. My body instantly molded into the mattress as I curled up and I drifted off to sleep to the sounds of Jenna and Calvin arguing over what the dragon should actually be called because according to Jenna, "Steve" was ridiculous.

Pleasantly refreshed, I woke up before the other initiates and shook Calvin and Jenna awake. I wanted them both to have a good breakfast before the fights. "Psst." I whispered to Jenna as I touched her shoulder. One eye opened and she look at me, then at her watch, and then back to me. "I swear to God, Olivia," she hissed through clenched teeth, "if you're trying to wake me up thirty minutes before I need to get up I will snap your neck." I believed her. I backed away slowly and her eye snapped shut and she turned over.

Calvin was much more chipper and was happily eating his muffin, and some of my food as well, as we went over the fighting styles and Achilles heel of each initiate. His lips smacked together and he surveyed me. "What's your weakness?"

"I let people steal my food." I pushed his hand away as he pinched off another piece of my muffin.

He popped what he had managed to take into his mouth and grinned. "And I love ya for it." I fended off his hand again as it reached for another bite. "I am a dangerous weapon," I told him, "I have no weaknesses."

He thought for a second. "No. You are easily angered, you're a terrible liar, and you have a soft spot for troubled souls, like myself." He smiled at me and there were remnants of my muffin in his teeth. I was speechless at his honesty and accuracy. "... and you're too slow!" He pounced on my plate and grabbed anther chunk of my food. I let him have it.

"And you're still too Candor for your own good." I shot back as I stood up. "We'd better get going."

We met Jenna as she was exiting the dormitories and Calvin deposited muffins into her hands before we took off for the training room. I was anxious to see the fight pairings for the day and strained my neck as soon as we were in the room to get a sight of the board. The first two people listed were Calvin and Lillian.

I thought back to the first day of fights when Lillian had knocked Addie to the ground and had given her a concussion. I didn't waste any time, I pulled Calvin close and started to repeat everything we had discussed about her. "She's going to try and knock you down and pin you," I whispered, "and you need to fight like hell if she does. Protect your head but use your elbows and knees to get her off. Make it hurt, I want to see her bleed." I patted him on the back at the conclusion at my somewhat morbid pep talk as Four began the fights by calling Lillian and Calvin forward onto the mats.

"I got this." Calvin said and he walked with determination into the fighting ring. I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to himself, but I was glad that he was being confident. Lillian strolled forward to meet Calvin in the center of the mat. She didn't seem that concerned about her current situation and smiled down at him condescendingly. I wanted to smack that smirk off of her face, but I figured I would let Calvin do that.

"Begin," said Eric.

Calvin didn't waste any time. Before Lillian had even raised her arms into the standard fighting position, he had lunged forward and hit her squarely in the face. Twice. Hard. I bit into my bottom lip to keep from grinning too wide and Lillian reeled from the unexpected assault. I egged Calvin on in my mind to keep attacking her while she was off-guard but he pulled back and waited.

The smile now gone, Lillian was now full of rage. As I expected, she dove onto him and they both fell to the ground. Calvin had tried to jump backwards but she had gotten ahold of his legs and was now attempting to hold him down. One leg slipped from her grasp and he used it to kick her once in the side and then once in the face. She grunted as his knee made contact with the side of her head and the rest of her hold loosened. Calvin slid out from underneath her, jumped up onto his feet, and kicked her once again in the side. Her body curled around the impact and she coughed. He raised his foot to kick again but she waved her hand to concede. The match was over and Calvin had won.

Four announced the winner and Calvin was ecstatic and almost ran back over to Jenna and me. Jenna wrapped her arms around him in a hug and when she released him, he gave me a smile. "You're turn," he said. Lillian, still visibly upset and holding her side, walked back to her friends and the rest of the group was waiting on me. I checked the board before moving onto the mat with my own opponent. I hadn't bothered checking any of the other pairings and my name was listed next to "Kolby", another transfer initiate from Candor who I was sure that I had never talked to before. Let's get this over with.

Kolby followed Calvin's example and moved to attack as soon as Eric signaled us to start. I quickly absorbed his blow into my forearm and kicked him in the side, advancing to attack again as I pushed him back. I must have gotten too close because he surprised me by pushing against my shoulders and sent me sprawling onto my back. Before I could get back on my feet, he jumped on me and his knee landed on my stomach.

I felt all the oxygen leave my lungs and I gasped for air, intense pain coming from my chest. My vision blurred and I struggled with all my strength against Kolby, who was trying to push my arms out of the way to punch me in the face. I shoved his fist to the side as it made its way down and I raised myself slightly to bring my elbow to the side, and then up and across, to make contact with his jaw.

I saw Kolby's eyes glaze over and he tumbled forward, all his weight pressing down on me and making it even harder to breath. I wheezed until Eric and Four rushed to my side and rolled him off me. "Stay down and catch your breath." Eric told me, pushing me back down as I attempted to sit up. "The air was just knocked out of you."

I listened to him and laid back down and tried to regulate my breathing, my chest still hurting like a motherfucker. Eric's eyes were hard as he stared down at Kolby's unconscious form and Four was the first to crack a smile. "This makes the third one," he looked down to me with amusement. I coughed out a laugh, but immediately stopped when it proved to be extremely painful. I should probably stop knocking people unconscious.

As the pressure on my chest was beginning to subside, Four helped me to my feet and Eric recruited Skylar to help drag Kolby off to the infirmary. Four placed me down next to Jenna and Calvin and Jenna immediately started fixing my hair, moving it out of my face. "How come you can't teach me something like that?" Calvin asked and I rolled my eyes, still focusing on my breathing.

Jenna rubbed my back in calming circles as we watched the next several fights, and then Calvin and I watched Jenna win her fight against Susan. As Jenna rejoined us, I beamed up to her, I was proud of how my friends were doing. Jenna was the last to fight and her match signaled the end of the first stage of initiation. We were given the rest of the day off as a reward for good matches and as preparation for Visiting Day tomorrow. We followed Jenna to the tattoo parlor as she got another tattoo. Similar to the one Calvin got yesterday, a dragon now danced upon her wrist and I declined their pleads to get a dragon tattoo as well. "Maybe another day." I told them. The adrenaline from my fight was still coursing through my veins and I loved the feeling, I was starting to feel like I belonged here, like I was actually Dauntless.

Feeling much better, Jenna, Calvin, and I ate dinner that night and I was constantly fending off attacks from Calvin's fork as he tried to steal my peas. This new hobby of his was something that I was going to put a stop to if I ever wanted to have another peaceful meal.

Jenna left us early that evening to get her hair done in the salon and Calvin and I wandered the compound. I teased him as we crossed The Pit by threatening to push him into the chasm if he ever stole food from me again, but I didn't press it too far because he took my threat seriously and vowed to only eat off of his own plate. I was beginning to explain to him that I was just kidding when I counted four Erudite initiates quickly approaching us through the small crowds of Dauntless members that were lingering and socializing around us. "Hey, Calvin!" The leading member of the group, Lillian, called out as she got close. The fresh bruises on her face a deep purple.

I didn't like her tone or the way the other initiates were rallied around her. Close behind her was Davis, a small, arrogant grin on his face. Tanner, another Erudite transfer was on Davis' other side, and Skylar stood in the back, looking bored or as if he didn't want to be there. "Can I help you?" I asked them.

"I wasn't talking to you." She told me and looked to Calvin. "That was some real bullshit you pulled earlier."

I frowned and spoke again, although the motion of me opening my mouth only seemed to anger Lillian even more. "The only bullshit I saw was your form. Do you even know how to block?" I heard Skylar chuckle from the back and Lillian turned her head and glared him into silence before turning back to us.

She ignored me and started to talk to Calvin again. "We have decided--" she pointed around at her group-- "that your journey here at Dauntless has come to an end. In a couple days someone from our class are going to be factionless and it's not going to be me. I'm not going to wait around for the scores to determine who leaves and I'm not going to risk that person being me just because someone as pathetic as you managed to cheat during our fight."

At her insult, my hand clenched into a fist. "You should probably stop talking and walk away right now," I warned her.

She ignored me again. "Either volunteer to leave Dauntless immediately or we will force you to leave. Understand?"

"Either back the fuck off or I will force you to. Understand?" I said in a higher pitch as I repeated a variation of her words back at her and she hesitated for a second, calculating how serious I was. Calvin broke the tension when he finally spoke up, his voice shaking slightly. "Yeah! Eat shit Erudite scum."

They laughed at his words and my body flashed hot in anger. Lillian put her hands on her hips and smirked. "Seriously, this does not concern you, Olivia. Leave."

"Make me," I dared her and she scowled.

"Lillian," Skylar sighed as he spoke her name, "let's go. It's not worth it."

"Shut up." Lillian told him even though she was starting to look like she was reconsidering her plan. She kept glancing between Calvin and me, and I took a step forward to stand in front of him. Part of me wanted them to walk away but part of me wanted to teach them a lesson. "Oh!" I gasped mockingly, walking towards her until I was a few feet away, prepared to become the first line of defense between her and my friend if she chose to attack. "You're afraid of me, I understand it now. That's cowardly of you."

That did it. At my words, Lillian rushed forward to close the gap between us and when she got close enough I decked her across the face, exactly where Calvin had hit earlier this morning. She gasped and reeled backwards before signalling to the others. "Grab him!" She said and Davis and Tanner moved forward and passed me. "Fight!" I called over my shoulder to Calvin as I kicked her in the chest, pushed her down, and made she was going to stay there before I took a step towards Skylar. He hadn't moved at Lillian's orders and when I advanced towards him, he stepped back and raised his hands in front of him to keep me at a distance. He looked at Lillian, who was struggling to get back on her feet, and kept backing away.

"I know a lost cause when I see one." Was all he said before he turned around to leave. Well, that made things easier. Calvin yelped and I rushed to his aid. Davis held him in a headlock while Tanner was repeatedly hitting him in the face and chest. The warning of my approach had barely left Davis' mouth before I grabbed ahold of Tanner and shoved him to the side. By this point, the Dauntless members had grown interested in the commotion we were causing and there were exclamations and laughs from our viewers as I brought his face against my knee. Holding his face in his hands, Tanner stumbled backwards and I kicked him in the side to push him to the ground. Curled up on the ground, I landed two more blows against his chest and stomach before turning back to Calvin.

Davis released Calvin and he dropped to the ground, wheezing. Davis stepped over him and opened his mouth to speak when I lunged forward and jabbed my fingers against his throat. Not hard enough to cause any damage, but enough for him to stop talking and keel over. I didn't want to hear what he had to say.

I moved forward with another attack when a blow struck across my head, messing up my hair. I whipped around to see Lillian back on her feet, her open palm raised for another strike. I think she just smacked the back of my head. "You're going to have to hit harder than that." I told her and I saw what looked like fear flash across her eyes as I dove on her.

She desperately tried to block the punches that I aimed at various parts of her head. My blood was boiling and I was sure my face was red. At the level of anger I was at right now, I wasn't sure if I would be able to stop hitting her. I wasn't sure I wanted to stop. How dare she attack Calvin because she felt threatened by his success. What a coward. Our spectators cheered and I think they were chanting something but my adrenaline caused their voices to be muffled in my ears while I focused on Lillian.

I brought up my fist again to land another punch when arms wrapped around my waist and I was raised off of Lillian. I thought everybody else was on the ground, who the hell was attacking me now? My arm already raised, I brought my elbow forward before rapidly slamming it backwards against this new assailant. Our audience fell eerily silent as my elbow made contact. I was quickly dropped to the ground and I rolled over to continue my assault in kicks but my legs were shoved to the side by Eric, who stood above me holding his nose in his hand and cursing.

I gulped and pushed hair out of my face to see better, breathing heavily. "It was self-defense." I stuttered and looked at the bodies lying around me. Most of them were gasping for air, but some, like Lillian, were peacefully unconscious.

"Really?" Eric snapped, blood already starting to leak through his knuckles.

I didn't know what else to say. He was pissed. I rose to my feet and stumbled towards Calvin who was starting to sit up. "Are you okay?" I asked and he nodded in response. "That was fun," he said, grinning wildly with a split lip. We both weakly laughed but he stopped and held his ribs when it proved to be too painful.

Eric stomped over to us and bent over, a hand extended. I thought he was reaching for my hand until his hand wrapped around my arm like a vine and he began to yank me to my feet. "Come on." He ordered and I held onto Calvin so I could pull him up as well. Eric kept the grip on my arm, which was beginning to feel more like a handcuff, as he dragged Calvin and me away from the circle of Dauntless members that surrounded us and out of The Pit.

The doctor inspected Eric's nose as I apologized. "I'm really, really, really sorry Eric." We had all arrived in the infirmary together and Calvin had been taken away to another observation room while Eric and I got cleaned up. Every so often I could hear a door open from outside in the hallway and the announcement that another Erudite initiate had been brought into the infirmary. Eric cursed loudly as the doctor set his nose back in place and I apologized again.

"For the last time, shut up." Eric told me and I pursed my lips together and tried to focus on the nurse that was cleaning me up. Luckily, I had avoided using my injured hand to fight but my arms and hands were splattered red with blood that was beginning to dry. My covered hands and arms had made my skin crawl but I was beginning to feel better as I watched the blood being washed away.

The nurse continued to swipe at my arm with a damp cloth and she sighed out of frustration, "Where is all this blood coming from? I'm not finding a source."

"That's because it's not my blood," I told her and I thought I heard Eric scoff. A lot of it was from Lillian but I knew that one bloody handprint had come from Eric and his nose. With both arms mostly clean of blood, the nurse inspected my face and shook her head. "It's in your hair, you're going to have to shower to get it out."

"Okay." I said and was happy when she packed up her now-pink wipes and left, she had rubbed my skin too harshly and it was now stinging and a bright pink. At least I was clean. Although I couldn't look into a mirror, I could feel the blood and sweat mixing together on my forehead and hairline and couldn't wait to wash it out.

Standing in front of Eric, the doctor inspected his work. "That should do it," he said.

"Great." Eric replied sarcastically. Eric's nose was back to being straight but he was still in a bad mood. The doctor removed his latex gloves and headed towards the door. "I'll be right back with some painkillers," he promised before he closed the door behind him.

Eric and I sat in silence and I picked at the material of the infirmary bed I sat on with my fingernails, wondering if there were any rules against initiates fighting outside of the training room. With a sigh, Eric leaned back until he was lying down on his bed. He brought up his arms to rest them above his head and I had to tear my eyes away from his waistband and the sliver of skin that it showed. The doctor had arranged us two beds apart from each other, for his safety or mine I didn't know, but I figured now would be a good time for me to leave.

As I made my way towards the door, Eric spoke. "Three against one. That wasn't very smart of you."

My shoes squeaked against the floor as I turned away from the exit to respond. "It wasn't three against one. Calvin was with me and they started out with four, so it was really four against two."

He mused. "Four against one. Even worse odds."

"Calvin was there," I repeated, "he helped."

"I wouldn't call him much help."

I frowned. "He's not that bad of a fighter," I insisted.

Eric groaned as he sat up. "But did he really fight?" We stared at each other while I thought about it.

"No, but--"

"That's what I thought." He interrupted me and I didn't say anything else. He gently touched his nose. "Amazing. You can brag about fighting thirty factionless on your own but can barely own up to taking on a couple of initiates."

"There were only fifteen factionless." I corrected him, trying to remember the exact number Calvin had been telling people.

"Haven't you heard? I think it's up to thirty now. Rumors about last night have been spreading and the number of factionless has been growing throughout the day. I've been losing credibility too, people really think that you had to save me last night."

"That's how I remember it. Isn't that what happened?"

I pretended to look confused and he smirked and touched his nose again. "This isn't going to be good either, everyone is going to know that an initiate broke my nose." I could tell that the attitude he'd been having all day, the one that had started to disappear once we were alone together, was starting to come back and I rolled my eyes at his tone and spoke. "It was an accident. Also, they fixed it. Your pretty face is back to normal."

"Pretty?" He asked.

I backtracked. "No, not like that. You know what I mean."

"You think I have a pretty face?" He asked, teasing, and I blinked at him, unable to think of a response.

"... No."

"You hesitated."

"I did not."

He ignored my contradictions and formed his question as a statement this time. "You think I'm pretty."

"Don't make me break another one of your bones," I warned.

"Is that a threat?"

He watched in amusement as I moved to stand in front of him. I crossed my arms when I stood a couple feet away. "Yes." I said, wondering if he'd keep playing along or if he'd be put off and switch back into his bad mood. Eric didn't respond and I bit the side of my cheek and lower lip and I noticed him staring at my mouth. I focused on the dark circles around his eyes and a section of his hair that was deviating from the norm by dangling across his forehead. Normally every hair was gelled into place so seeing this rogue piece was distracting. My fingers itched to fix it. I wondered if his hair was as soft as it looked.

"You look tired, when was the last time you slept?"

He thought for a second and then relaxed his posture, as if he was just realizing how tired he was. "About 36 hours."

"You need to go home and get some sleep."

"Are you giving me orders, initiate?"

"Yes."

His blue eyes searched mine before he closed them and exhaled softly through his nose. I uncrossed my arms and tapped my fingers against my leg a couple times before I reached out and moved his hair back into place.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his eyes still closed.

"I don't know." I replied and my voice was quieter than I thought it would be. "Thanks for stopping the fight and I'm sorry about your nose." I withdrew my hand and turned around to walk out of the room. I was right. His hair was as soft.


	10. Update

As of 3/25/2017 this story has been edited. Not too much has changed, a couple of the earlier chapters have been merged together and I've fixed a lot of dialogue and grammar. Enjoy :)


	11. Visiting Day

Vibrant colors speckled The Pit. Blue, yellow, and white fabrics mixed with the achromatic Dauntless uniforms. Voices of varying pitches echoed and bounced off the walls to reach my perch two stories above the commotion where I sat on stone that was cool to the touch. When the two colors had collided several minutes ago, a figure in white embraced Calvin and had yet to release him. His hands were loose by his sides while his mother held him and they swayed side-to-side as she cried.

"Initiate."

I looked behind my shoulder to see Eric passing by with other Dauntless members, he waved them forward. I turned back to the commotion beneath me, not entirely sure I wanted to be talking to him right now, especially since he didn't sound happy.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be socializing?" I noticed the small purple bruises on either side of Eric's nose as he sat down next to me on the ground, his tone changing slightly now that it was just the two of us. Our legs hung off of the ledge and I swung my feet, the heels of my shoes thudding the side of the wall.

"Shouldn't you?" I asked. Earlier I had seen the other trainer, Four, speaking to Skylar's father.

He grimaced. "Parents aren't really my thing, especially the emotional ones." The sounds of Calvin's mother continued to travel up to us and I agreed with him, cringing at the second-hand embarrassment I felt for Calvin.

I was sure Calvin was mortified to have his family make a scene in front of everyone and I was glad I had politely declined his offer this morning to join them. Calvin was surprised to learn that I wasn't expecting anyone to show up, and offered to share his visitors, but I insisted that I had other things to do. I was sure the Bureau wasn't going to send someone to pretend to be my family and I decided to spare myself the embarrassment of pretending to look for people. I found myself a secluded spot away from everyone, or so I thought.

"Besides," Eric continued, "I have more important things to do. So are you avoiding your family? Or did no one show up?"

That struck a chord in me. It was hard to it admit to myself, but I was jealous that the other initiates had people today. Who did I have? Right now the only constant in my life seemed to be Eric, a Dauntless leader who was only in my life thanks to a combination of poor decisions and bad luck.

"My dad was really pissed when I transferred, so I'm not surprised that nobody came." I tried to sound nonchalant, but I could feel my head and chest beginning to ache, a physical manifestation of my emotions. I should have slept in and avoided this situation altogether.

He saw right through me. "Try not to sound so sad about it." He advised, growing stern. "You made the decision to transfer to Dauntless and they made the decision to not visit. There's nothing you can do. Move on. Dauntless is your family now."

I nodded but still enviously watched the crowd beneath us. One individual caught my eye and I followed their figure as they walked through the middle of the reunion. It was a Dauntless member judging by their clothes and tattoos. They were scanning the faces of the initiates as if they were looking for someone. That's odd. I thought the Dauntless-born initiates met family members at their homes.

I felt Eric looking at me and I pulled myself away from the stranger below, realizing that Eric was demanding a verbal answer.

"I'm not sad."

"Really?" He didn't sound convinced.

"Absolutely."

I was not in the mood for this serious Eric. Which was who he was most of the time, but the least he could do was distract me from thinking about how alone I felt. Right now the only distraction I could find was the man below who was now standing at the edge of the group and running his hands through his brown hair like he was stressed.

Why did this man look so familiar? I could sense that an epiphany was close.

"You're a bad liar you know." Eric commented. I didn't reply.

Eric sighed and pulled out his cigarettes. He offered me the container and after I declined, he put one in his mouth and lit it. His phone buzzed. He grabbed it from his jacket pocket and unlocked the screen and began reading what looked like a long message. His jacket was identical to the one he wore during war games except clean, erased of all paint stains.

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked, as if I didn't already know.

"Yeah, there's a Dauntless leader meeting and then there's another meeting at Erudite." He stopped scrolling through his phone and looked up, raising an eyebrow at me. "Promise not to miss me too much."

At least he was teasing me now. I could deal with that. I tried to scoff but the sharp intake of breath I took caused the smoke he just exhaled to fill my lungs. The smoke surprised me more than anything and I quickly coughed it out. He smirked in response, placing one hand behind me so that he could lean in closer, smoke now more densely encircling us.

"Are you sure you're not from Abnegation? You don't handle smoke very well."

I shot him an irritated look before I took the cigarette from his fingers and raised it to my own lips. I wasn't sure why, but I needed to prove to him that I could handle it. He watched, amused, as I took a timid pull and then he grinned for the first time this morning.

"Now we're talking." He approved, taking back the cigarette and taking another drag as I exhaled. I reached for it again as soon as he was done and he handed it over willingly, our fingers touching in the process. "Don't you know those things will kill you?" Smoke escaped from his mouth and nose as he spoke and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him repeating my words back at me.

"So I've heard." I said.

I had barely put the cigarette between my lips when the epiphany hit me like a train. Adrenaline flooded my body and I barely noticed that I had let the cigarette fall from my open mouth until I quickly brushed it off my lap before it could burn through my pant leg.

"The hell--" Eric exclaimed, confused as to why I had just thrown our cigarette off the ledge, but I wasn't paying attention to him. I was already up and crossing the landing toward the stairs that descended down into The Pit.

Eric was fast. He caught me before I got down more than a couple stairs and grabbed my arm to spin me around. "Was it something I said?" His tone was playful and I knew he was still oblivious, but I got nervous. Eric was the last person I wanted to explain this to. I needed to throw him off, but I had to tread lightly.

"Um.." I looked behind me, down into The Pit, and then back up at Eric. He followed my gaze, looking behind me with what was starting to look like suspicion and I acted fast. I rotated us so that his back was turned to my visitor downstairs. "Sorry. It's nothing. I thought I saw something." His eyes narrowed and I knew he had picked up on my lie.

We were alarmingly close and it didn't help that his hand moved from my arm to my waist, keeping me in place from where I stood, one step above him, our faces more level to each other than normal.

I couldn't help but let my eyes flicker once more down into The Pit and Eric noticed. He was starting to turn his head when I put my hands on his shoulders. This accomplished what I thought it would and his reaction was immediate. His eyes snapped back to mine and the pressure on my waist increased as he drew me closer.

"Don't you have a meeting to go to?" I asked, peering up at him.

He checked the time on his phone and nodded.

"Walk with me." It didn't sound like a request.

"What's in it for me?" Whoops. That just slipped out, and with a meaning I did not intend. But he wasn't put off. In fact, he smirked and now both hands were on my waist.

"I'll tell you the rankings, you won't have to wait for later tonight."

That actually sounded tempting. I smiled at him, pretending to think about his offer. "I should go socialize with the others. I wouldn't want them to think I'm getting special privileges or anything." My laugh was breathy and fake.

I removed my hands from his shoulders and tried to sidestep past him. He didn't release his hold on me and kept me in place. Of all the times for Eric to be more forward, it had to be right now? Maybe this was a dream? Maybe I had decided to sleep in and I still needed to wake up. 

I kept my attention down to the commotion of The Pit and I felt Eric leaning closer. I searched for the man below and discovered that he had spotted me as well. As we made eye contact he raised a hand in acknowledgment and greeting, but slowly lowered it as he noticed whose arms I was in.

Eric's breath was hot against my neck but chills ran up and down my spine. "I know what you're doing." He warned.

And with that, he was gone. Eric pushed past me and strode up the stairs and I looked after him until he disappeared down one of the tunnels. He didn't look back.

My legs were a little unsteady as I ran down the remaining flights of stairs. I crashed against the sea of initiates and their families and I fought against them as I made it to the other side. His smile grew wide as I neared but he let out a yelp of pain as I grabbed ahold of his arm and started dragging him away from The Pit.

"Hey sugar -- OWW!" He complained loudly as soon as my fingernails made contact with his skin. I shushed him and then there was little resistance as I led him into an abandoned hallway next to the kitchens.

"What. In. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here?" With every word I shoved him further back into the darkness of the hallway, looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was around or paying attention.

"Jesus, Olivia, you've scratched the shit out of me."

"Answer the question! You scared the fuck out of me. Someone could have seen you, you should have told me you were coming!!"

"I checked the dormitories and the dining hall but you weren't there. I figured you were with the other initiates. Don't be mad. I'm sorry.." He began to apologize but he didn't need to say anything else. I threw my arms around him and pulled him close. My eyes and arms squeezed tight, afraid that he'd disappear if I let go.

I could feel him shift uncomfortably. "Can't... breathe...." He wheezed.

"Sorry." I muttered. I loosened my grip around him but I continued to press my face against his chest, my voice coming out thick.

"Are you crying?"

"No." I snapped, but I sniffed and quickly wiped the moisture from my eyes on my shirt.

He pulled back, separating us. "Why are you crying? Are you upset I'm here?"

"No. I'm... happy?"

"That's a stupid reason to cry."

"Shut up, Braden." I wrapped him in a hug again to hide my face. I felt his chest move as he laughed and I couldn't help but laugh with him. Braden patted the back of my head gingerly and I released him, stepping back to properly wipe my face on my shirt.

"But seriously, what are you doing here?"

"Well..." He began, and I could already tell I was in for an adventure. His eyes lit up and he couldn't contain his smile. "It's a super secret mission," he wiggled his eyebrows at me, "wanna join?"

"Of course," I said.

"Excellent. Let's go." He set off, walking further into the dark tunnel while I half-jogged behind him to keep up. He explained the situation:

"After the choosing ceremony, I was only with the Bureau for a couple days before they sent me back in. There's a growing unrest among the factionless and Natalie Prior requested additional help in surveillance. I volunteered but it's been uneventful so far, they have me stationed outside of Abnegation until things quiet down."

"You're living with the factionless?"

"Yes."

"Is that safe? The factionless are uncivilized, they have no leader, no rules. They're dangerous."

He shook his head. "A lot has changed in a couple of weeks, you'd be surprised." He glanced over his shoulder. "We're getting close, we can stop here."

We stopped walking. He took out his phone and security footage was on the screen. It was a large room with high ceilings and wide doors. Dauntless vehicles lined the room, it looked like some sort of garage. Braden swiped the screen with a finger to survey the room. It was empty from what I could tell.

"Braden," I said, suddenly remembering, "did the Bureau get my message? About Jeanine? The Dauntless leaders are meeting with her today."

"Why do you think I'm here?"

"What are we going to do?"

He grinned mischievously. "Ready?"

"For what?"

He answered my question by shoving his shoulder against the door we were standing next to, opening it with a clang. I rushed in behind Braden, blinking against the lights and looking around. It was the room we were just watching from the security footage on his phone. I kept an eye on the ceiling, on the camera, as we crossed the room to the bigger Dauntless vehicles. The heavy-duty ones they take on missions.

"The cameras," I hissed, "someone will see us."

"They're disabled. Obviously. We're not stupid." He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, pulled out two metal rods with sharp ends, and handed one to me. "But we have to hurry, we can't be seen anywhere around here."

He bent down and took a breath before he slammed the rod down and into the tire. The tire gave out a short, high-pitched noise as he stabbed it.

"Fuck." I exhaled, shit is getting real. There was no going back now. The tire still looked normal, but I knew the air was continually leaking out and that it would eventually be flat and useless.

"Go around to the other side and do the same thing to the other back tire. They only have one spare."

"This isn't going to stop them for long." I told Braden as he stabbed the tire of another vehicle. "Erudite has their own cars and could come get them if they needed to."

"We're just following orders. They only need to be delayed for a few minutes, there's another unit in place to take care of the rest."

"What's the other unit going to do?"

"I don't know. Why do you care?"

"I don't, I'm just curious." I moved to the other side of the vehicle and heard the sound of another tire being punctured. The tire rubber was hard but the force I put behind the dagger was enough to pierce it. I slashed two more tires on another vehicle and had to admit that it was immensely more satisfying than I thought it would be.

"Alright," Braden came from around the corner and took back the rod, "let's bounce."

I straightened up and we rushed out of the room. I gave one last glance to the camera, not entirely convinced that they were not recording. We jogged down the dark hallway and stopped just outside the entrance to The Pit so that we were still in the darkness. It looked as though the initiates had barely moved, their conversations were still a constant and monotonous roar.

"We can't stay here, we need to be somewhere else."

"Stay behind me." I said, moving out into light and keeping close to the edges of The Pit. I kept my head down and walked briskly to the staircase. I could hear Braden's boots as he stomped up the stairs behind me.

He cleared his throat a couple flights up, as we passed the ledge where I had been sitting this morning. "You know, they say 'keep your enemies close', but I don't think they mean literally," he said.

"He's not the enemy." I was wondering when he was going to bring up Eric.

I led us down one of the tunnels, the training room should be empty, we could be there for a little bit. I tried the door to the training room, it turned freely in my hand and the lights automatically came on as we walked in.

"Then what is he?"

That made me think for longer than it should have. I surveyed the room, making sure it was empty. "A resource." I concluded. "I knew Dauntless was meeting with Erudite from him."

Braden walked around the room, touching the punching bags and looking at the equipment. "This meeting wasn't technically news, we've known for weeks."

"And you guys decided that I didn't need to know? I need to be in the loop on this type of stuff!"

"What type of stuff? You're not here to keep tabs on the Dauntless leaders, we have more capable people doing that." He moved onto the fighting mats and tested them out by bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. I frowned at him.

"What am I supposed to do then? Passing initiation is easy, I can handle more responsibility!"

"Are you even passing initiation?" Braden touched a finger to his cheek, mirroring where the bruises decorated my face. "I wasn't going to mention it, but you're looking a little beat up."

"And you smell like the factionless, but I wasn't going to bring that up."

"That sounds like fighting words." He approved, waving me forward onto the mat. "C'mon, let's see what you've got."

"Isn't there somewhere else you need to be? Like another super secret mission that I don't need to know about or a garbage can that needs to be rummaged through?"

"It's actually a dumpster. And lucky for you, I'm not needed for dumpster-diving duty until later tonight." Braden motioned again for me to join him in the fighting ring.

I sighed loudly. "We literally just finished physical training. I'm tired of fighting."

"Awww." He frowned back at me, mocking me, and continued bouncing on the mat. "Poor baby."

He didn't need to tease me twice. I grumbled to myself on the way to the mat and Braden jumped over to me. "Tell you what, if you can pin me in two minutes then we'll stop and you can have some cake."

"What happens if I can't? I mean, I know that I'll pin you, but what if it takes two minutes and three seconds?"

"You have to get a tattoo, and I get to choose."

"Okay, but I want two pieces of cake." I felt slightly apprehensive, but I felt even more confident.

"Deal." He said and we raised our arms up in the standard fighting positions.

The cake was delicious, and victory made it taste even sweeter. I ate each bite smugly, savoring the flavor and savoring the look on Braden's face from across the table.

"Do you want some?" I asked, pushing the plate away from myself, "I couldn't possibly eat another bite, I'm absolutely stuffed." I grinned and waved my fork in front of his face.

"You're a sore winner." He told me.

"I know." I rested an elbow on the table and I studied Braden with my chin in my hand.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"You have tattoos."

"I've always had tattoos."

I gestured to his arms. "I know, but you've gotten a lot more."

"Camouflage. I'm supposed a Dauntless defective, I've got to look the part."

"A lot of your new tattoos look defective that's for sure."

"Hey!" He was defensive. "I will not sit here and be mocked. I'm perfectly happy with them thank you very much."

I laughed and pointed. "What the hell is that one?"

"This one?" He rolled up his sleeve a little to show the full ink, it was a patterned rectangle with stars in one corner. "No idea, but some of my dad's friends thought it was really funny."

"I'm just concerned about your taste in tattoos, especially since I'm considering letting you help pick one out for me."

He grinned widely, "Seriously!? Finally! I have so many ideas."

I picked up my plate with my half-eaten cake. "Well? Let's go." I dropped off my tray and Braden and I left the dining hall. The Pit was mostly empty. Visiting day must be drawing to a close. Calvin and Jenna were nowhere in sight, for which I was grateful, I wasn't sure how I would explain my companion to them.

I don't know why I had been putting off getting a tattoo. It may have been in part that my skin was the last thing I had control over. Getting a tattoo signaled my final submission to Dauntless and to the experiment. Braden looked through tattoo sketches from a spiral binder. "You want it on your forehead, right?" He asked.

"I was thinking lower back." I held up a print of a skull with flames in the eye sockets. "Something subtle like this that shows off my happy personality."

"I love it."

"I don't know." I said, closing the binder I was paging through. "I'm not finding anything."

Braden quickly rolled up his sleeve to show the decorative rectangle again. "Is it because you've already seen the one you want?"

I barked a laugh. "Yes," I replied sarcastically, "I definitely want that on me forever."

"Come on!" Braden began to plead, giving me puppy-dog eyes. "I can't be the only one with this tattoo. Please? We can be twins, it'll be awesome!"

"I don't think so."

"Listen. I don't understand the joke behind it, it's probably really stupid, but it will amuse my dad and a lot of his friends. They'll love you."

I could feel myself giving in, and I couldn't bear to have Braden begging me those eyes for another second.

"It'll make a bunch of old guys happy? Fine. I'll do it!" I caved. "But I'm not getting it on my arm."

"I know. Lower back. We've already discussed this."

I laid on my stomach on the table, resting my forehead on my arms. The tattoo artist drew a quick copy of Braden's tattoo and I chose to get a smaller version on my shoulder blade. Braden waited for me while I got inked and when I got out he ruffled my hair and gave me a high-five.

"You're a great influence." I told him. "Making me commit crimes, fight for food, and get tattooed."

He winked. "That's why I'm here."

"Olivia!" My named was called and I saw Calvin waving from across The Pit. "The rankings are up. Come on!" He yelled.

"Okay, I'll be right there!" I answered and Braden checked his watch.

"I should go, it's getting late." he said.

My mood dropped almost instantly. "You don't have to, I'll only be gone for a couple minutes and then we can go cause some more trouble."

"No, I've been here long enough. I really should get going."

"You can come back soon though, right? I'm kind of going crazy in here without anyone to talk to. I don't have anyone who understands what I'm going through."

"From what I saw this morning, I think you already have someone."

I frowned at him. "You know what I mean. And I was given orders to be nice, I am being nice."

"Maybe a little too nice."

I knew there was something else he wanted to say, but I was sure I didn't want to pry and hear it. "You're right, you should go." I was already starting to back away. "I'll see you later. Okay? Stay safe."

"You too." He nodded, touched my arm once, and then left. I watched him descend into the main floor of The Pit. He turned around and gave me a small salute before he disappeared into one of the tunnels. I wondered how he was going to get out of the compound without raising any alarms but I knew that if he could get in, then he could get out.

When I made it to the dormitories, the initiates were gathered around Four, who was writing on a board. I rushed over and stood on my toes to see over their shoulders.

1\. Skylar

2\. Olivia

That made sense. Skylar and I were both undefeated but Skylar was consistently better with guns and knives, he didn't have to pretend to have poor aim at the beginning of training. I looked down the rest of the names.

3\. Davis

4\. Tanner

5\. Lillian

6\. Jenna

7\. Calvin

8\. Kolby

9\. Susan

At least my friends aren't last. Three people are going to be leaving tomorrow and I hope at least one of the Dauntless-born initiates is ranked below Calvin. I don't think I could bear to have Calvin leave. What would I do without him? Probably have a peaceful meal and not get into fights, but that's about it.

The initiates, with the exception of Kolby and Susan, who quickly left the room after seeing the rankings, were happy with their scores. Calvin was the most excited, he had transformed into a ball of energy and was surprisingly having an animated conversation with Skylar. It was also surprising to see Skylar separated from the other Erudite transfers, but now that I think about it, I did notice Skylar eating by himself this morning.

Calvin announced that celebrations should commence immediately and led the way out of the dormitories. Skylar looked unsure, but he followed after us when Calvin called to him. The other Erudite transfers were chatting amongst themselves and gave us a wide berth as we passed by. Lillian shot me a dirty look which I returned with a smile. They all looked a little beat up from yesterday but I felt little remorse.

On our way to The Pit we were stopped by a group of Dauntless-born initiates. Each was carrying a heavy, covered box and they were on their way to the roof. I was recognized by Tyler and Ava, the curious initiates from breakfast yesterday morning, and they invited us to join them.

"Are we jumping off?" Calvin asked, getting excited. He'd been wanting to jump into that net again since the first day of initiation.

Ava shared a look with her friends, "Not exactly." She admitted. "It's more of a.. social gathering."

The roof looked social. Several people were arranging blankets, folding chairs, and benches around a fire pit while others were gathering materials to light it. Bags of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers were heaped in a pile and our companions deposited their boxes next to the food. I heard the chink of glass as Ava set her box down.

"What's in those?" Jenna asked her.

Ava waved Calvin, Jenna, Skylar, and me closer so she could whisper. "Listen, it's totally cool. Dan was able to get a couple cases from his brother. I know it's against the rules for initiates to drink, but technically we're not even in the compound. Plus, we don't have training tomorrow so what's the harm in having a little fun?"

My companions were quick to agree but I was hesitant. I could think of several reasons why this was a bad idea, nothing good could come from a bunch of drunken teenagers on a rooftop. But I chose to stick around to keep on eye on Calvin, who was eyeing the space between the buildings where we first jumped, I needed to make sure he was safe.

As the sunlight dimmed, a bright outdoor light was turned on so everyone could get situated. Food and liquor bottles were passed around, I stockpiled the former but rejected the latter. Calvin captured Skylar once again in conversation and I joined Jenna on a bench where she wrapped us up in a blanket. The sun was starting to set and we didn't have jackets. The fire was warm on our faces while we shared body heat and roasting sticks. As soon as the sun was gone, the outdoor light was turned off and my eyes adjusted to the dark.

The others wasted no time and started drinking heavily while I roasted Jenna and myself marshmallows on the fire. Jenna liked her marshmallows burnt, which I found strange. I ate my third s'more and couldn't help but think about Braden. I didn't like how we ended things tonight and wished he stayed. He would probably force me to drink though, everyone was required to drink at the infamous parties he threw at the Bureau.

The laughter and volume of conversations around us grew exponentially and I grew uneasy. We were making an awful lot of noise, surely people could hear us. I didn't notice my leg was bouncing until Jenna told me to stop moving. "Here," her mouth was full of graham cracker as she bent over, picked up, and handed me an untouched glass bottle, "if anyone needs to loosen up, it's you."

"I'm good," I declined. "I need to keep an eye on Calvin."

"He's asleep." She pointed to where Calvin was curled up in a folding chair, snoring. "Such a lightweight."

"Still. I'm okay with just eating s'mores, I promise."

"Don't be such a pussy." She lifted the bottle to her own lips and took a sip. Shocked, I raised my eyebrows at her words. She laughed and offered the vodka once again.

I sighed and sucked the chocolate off one of my fingers before I accepted the bottle. I could at least get buzzed, it would relax me and stop me from thinking so much. The familiar burn ran down my throat as I took a small sip and swallowed. I coughed to clear my passageway and then took a bigger swig.

"Nice!" Jenna grinned and took back the bottle, taking another shot.

We passed the liquor back and forth until I felt a warm, comfortable sensation in my chest. But even then, it only took a little prodding from Jenna to get me to drink more. She continued to bring out my competitive side as she teased me to keep up with her and before I knew it, I was in too deep. The fire was a ball of light that I couldn't get my eyes to focus on and I snuggled up to Jenna.

"Jenna...." I cooed, reaching up to her cheek.

"Stop touching my face!" She smacked my hand away but it didn't deter me long. I saw my hand making its way up again and she pushed it away with greater force.

My chest began to hurt and I could feel my throat tighten up. "I just want... to be your friend." I blubbered, feeling hysteria start to descend.

"Fine." She snapped, and she allowed me to put my hands to her head. I laughed out loud and started running my fingers through her hair.

"Wow. You really can't hold your liquor, huh?"

I pressed a finger against her lips. "Shhhhhh..." I whispered, and then discovered I liked the way my voice sounded so I continued to shush her as I split a section of her hair into three parts. Jenna fidgeted and winced as I braided her hair. I don't think I was being gentle, but beauty is pain. When I was done I gave the braid a kiss. "It's beautiful." I told her and she thanked me begrudgingly.

I gave her hair another kiss and then I turned her head to the side so that I could start on another braid. Jenna stopped me, "That's enough." she said, taking back her hair from my hands and unwrapping us from the blanket so she could stand up. "Trade spots with me." She told someone sitting nearby and I was exposed to the cold air for a couple seconds before another warm body sat beside me.

I quickly rewrapped the blanket around my new companion and myself to keep warm and then I reached up to feel their hair. Jenna might not appreciate me, but I could find someone who does. I was disappointed to find that their hair didn't extend beyond their ears. I couldn't braid short hair. I squinted my eyes and leaned forward so the fire reflected on their face and my stupor cleared enough to recognize them.

"Oh, Skylar. It's only you."

"Hi, Olivia. You're drunk," he said, slurring his words, and I hiccuped.

"I am not. How dare you suggest something so ridiculous. You're drunk." I accused, jabbing a finger into his cheek and smelling the alcohol on his breath. My hand continued to roam his scalp, searching for any hope that he could get a pretty braid and I continued talking to him.

"I don't think you're a nice person and you don't have nice friends," I told him, "and I wish we had fought each other. I bet I could beat you up."

"You could?"

"Of course." I laughed happily. "If I can fight Braden, I can fight you."

I could see the reflection of the fire in his eyes as I leaned in. Short hair might not hold braids, but it still deserved kisses. He was a lot taller than Jenna, and I couldn't reach his hairline, so I settled for his neck.

Skylar reacted strangely to my friendly kisses. At first he sat extremely still as I planted sloppy kisses along his throat and then he was everywhere. He wrapped one arm around me to pull me closer and he placed one hand under my chin to guide my mouth to his. I kissed him back and laughed against his mouth when he shifted our positions so I was sitting on his lap, straddling him. I didn't mind it. His lips were soft and warm and tasted like the beer he was drinking.

I rested my hands on his shoulders to keep my balance while he kissed me fervently. He pressed his hands into my waist and back to keep me close to his chest while his fingers traced the bare skin below the hemline of my shirt. His hands moved further up and I felt the cold air hitting my back. The blanket must have fallen off us. I pressed into him, my fingers grasping at the back of his neck and eliciting a low moan from his throat.

And then the sun came back up. No, not the sun. The sun wasn't this bright. Someone had turned on that large outdoor light again. I groaned, closing my eyes and burying my face against Skylar's neck to block out the harsh light, waiting for someone to turn it off.

"Okay, initiates!" A loud, booming voice sounded over the drunken confusion of everyone around me. "Party's over, everyone up!" It was Max, one of the main Dauntless leaders, I recognized his voice. Were they back from Erudite? I started to open my eyes to look but they watered as soon as I tried, it was still way too bright.

"Everyone up!" Max repeated sternly and the initiates grumbled and made a lot of noise as they got to their feet. Skylar stood up as well, with some difficulty because I was still there, and set me down on my feet. I tried to stand up straight but felt unsteady, the world didn't feel solid beneath my feet. It didn't help that Skylar was leaning on me, trying to keep his balance as well.

At least my eyes were beginning to adjust, I could see Max as he walked past us. "What a sorry bunch you are. Shit-faced around a fire during initiation. Ava and Dan? Seriously? We expected more from you." He chastised.

"Jesus, can someone put out that fucking fire already?" Another voice added, one that was much closer. I recognized that voice as well. Water was thrown on the fire and it was extinguished into clouds of steam. With one of my heat sources gone, I shivered into Skylar and kept an eye on the Dauntless leaders. Why did they have to ruin the fun? I didn't understand why they showed up angry.

"Get out of here, sleep it off." Max ordered. "Tomorrow, everyone will be put on work detail and this mess will be cleaned up."

Several people stumbled past us to the roof exit and I laughed into Skylar's chest. "Did you hear that? You're in trouble. 'Everyone will be put on work detail.'" I said, using my deepest voice.

He laughed in response and then pushed me away so he could turn around and throw up. I fell back onto the bench and patted Skylar's back in comfort while he bent over, emptying his stomach. Someone tugged on my wrist.

"Come on, Olivia." Jenna was supporting a barely-conscious Calvin and looking relatively unfazed and alert.

"I want another s'more."

"No. They put the fire out, it's time to go."

Jenna ignored all my protests as she towed us behind her to the roof exit. She had a firm grip on my wrist and I dragged Skylar behind me by the hand. I used all my concentration to focus on my feet, trying not to stumble on the loose gravel.

We made it halfway to the dormitories before I fell and took everyone down with me. Even though I landed hard on my knee, I cackled with laughter and Skylar joined in. With an exasperated sigh, Jenna pushed me off her and repositioned Calvin on her side.

"Fuck, you guys are a bunch of children. Stay here, okay? I'll be back in five minutes."

"Jenna, nooo!" I called after her retreating figure. "Don't leave me!"

"Calm down, I'll be right back, I can't handle all three of you."

She left us in an unfamiliar tunnel and I crawled on my hands and knees to where she disappeared, calling her name. Skylar trailed behind, laughing, and we emerged into The Pit, several stories up from the base.

I carefully slid down the first flight of stairs on my butt and Skylar followed suit. He told me he felt sick again and he threw up on the steps.

"That's gross." I said, moving quickly down the stairs to get away from the smell. "Move." I told the pair of legs that was stopping me from continuing down the stairs. "You're in the way."

"Well, look who we have here. Who left you without adult supervision?"

"Jenna. She abandoned me." I said, raising my arms up to him.

"I can see that." Eric helped me to my feet and the world spun around me.

I closed my eyes and groaned. "Dizzy..." I muttered, begging everything to stop moving.

"Let's get you back to the dorms, okay?"

I hummed in agreement, relying heavily on him to make it down the stairs. My speed was slow and my footing was treacherous. Eric let me struggle for a minute before he lost patience.

"Don't throw up on me." He warned, and my feet left the ground.

"I can walk." I protested but I relaxed into him, I was too tired to do anything more than complain. We were moving a lot faster now and I realized something. "Wait! You left Skylar behind."

"Did I?" He didn't slow his pace.

"Yes, are we going back for him?"

"No."

"He could fall into The Pit, he's drunk."

"So are you."

"Only a little bit. And I'm never going to drink again."

"Really? It looked like you had a lot of fun tonight."

"I did. Did you see Jenna's hair? I braided it. If your hair was longer, I would braid it too."

We arrived outside the dormitories and Eric set me down but I kept ahold of his jacket with both my hands.

"I need to go." he said.

"Okay, but first i have to tell you a secret." I pulled him down to my level and he bent over, my mouth next to his ear. "I got a tattoo."

He chuckled "Really?"

"Yes. Also, you smell good."

"Thanks. Is that everything?" He asked, putting his hands on my hips.

"And..." I tried to think of another secret but was distracted by the tattoos on his neck. Eric had a better neck than Skylar and it deserved kisses too. I started at his jaw and only managed to get a couple in before he drew back. The dormitory door was opening and a haggard Jenna appeared from the inside.

"Oh." She stopped short at the sight of us and I released my grip on his jacket. Eric took a step back.

"Jenna!" I welcomed her, smiling. "Skylar is on the stairs."

"Okay." She was wary and gave me a look before she rushed off, disappearing down the tunnel.

"Get some sleep, Max is going to be giving everyone hell tomorrow," he said once Jenna left.

I didn't want him to leave.

"Stay."

"I can't." He said, adjusting his jacket from where I had been tugging on it and opening the dormitory door for me.

I pouted before I entered the dorms. "Fine. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Olivia."


	12. Simulations

I regretted everything. I regretted giving into Jenna's taunts, I regretted the pounding in my head, and I regretted the red bruise that stood out on Skylar's neck from where he sat across the table. My hands felt and smelled like chemicals as I picked at my food, not interested and not hungry. What was supposed to be a day off from training was instead spent picking up trash from the roof and mopping vomit off the stairs. After a long day of cleaning punishments, it felt good to relax.

Frustrated, I pushed my tray away and leaned forward so the side of my face was pressed against the table. Calvin followed my example and hummed in approval, the cold metal table felt nice on our foreheads. We were hungover and sluggish all day, while Jenna and Skylar suffered minimal effects.

Jenna was unsympathetic; she smacked away at her food and the noise annoyed me. I made an incoherent noise at her and she stopped chewing. "What? Am I not allowed to eat?"

"-- quietly." I finished my mumbling and smashed my face further into the table. She said something under her breath and my head popped up again.

"What was that?" I asked, agitated and daring her to repeat her words. I'm fired up and in the right mood if she wanted to start something.

Jenna took a smaller, quieter bite of her apple and shared a look with Skylar. "Nothing. Calm down, Olivia." She reprimanded me and Skylar joined in when she laughed.

I turned to Skylar. "What are you doing here? Are you lost?" My voice grew louder as I pointed to where the other initiates sat. "Your friends are over there. You are not welcome here."

He's taken aback and Jenna shushed me. "Geez, Olivia. Be nice. Where is this coming from?" She shook her head at me while I took a drink, but she was smiling; she was enjoying this. "You were a lot more fun last night. Didn't you think so, Skylar?" She winked at him and I frowned at her.

My scowl moved to Skylar and he was uncomfortable as I stared him down. My grip tightened on my cup while my other hand found my fork. What I threw depended on how he answered. His eyes moved between Jenna and me, lost for words.

"I, uhh--"

He's interrupted by Calvin. "Quit it, Jenna." Calvin's voice is muffled from where his head rested on his arms. "Or she's going to stab someone."

That diffused the tension and we ate in silence for a few minutes. I still held the fork and cup though, ready to use them at a moment's notice. It wasn't long before Jenna grew restless again. "There was a lot going on yesterday," she reflected.

I shot her a warning look but her attention was on the other side of the dining hall. A smile played on her lips right before she gasped suddenly, leaning forward and whispering to us, "Speak of the devil, he's coming over here now."

The way Skylar stiffened up was almost comical and everyone quickly looked over to where she was referring to. I didn't see anyone and Jenna, who was watching for my reaction, laughed. Skylar scanned the room and then relaxed, rubbing his neck where the hickey was.

"You're real funny." I told her, standing up and gathering my tray, ready to leave.

"It was just a joke," Calvin said, reaching out and holding onto my wrist to keep me from leaving. I easily broke from his grip and stepped over the bench, I could feel my face beginning to flush. Before I left, I scowled at Skylar one last time. He realized what is going to happen about a second before it did and flinched. My cup hit him on the right side of his forehead and what was left in the cup spilled on his shirt. My aim was off from center, which annoyed me more than anything and I left the dining hall in a huff.

The training room was unlocked. I found the throwing knives and stood in front of the targets. It had been awhile since I had practiced and it showed. The more I was unable to hit the center, the more I got frustrated. I don't know what was wrong with me. My head ached and I kept replaying the conversation we had at dinner. Jenna's smug face was especially prominent and I regretted not hitting her with something as well. Maybe I'll get two cups of water at breakfast. Just in case.

I threw until my thoughts were calmer and I was able to hit the center with ease. I was removing the knives from the targets when Calvin found me. He politely declined my offer to help him with his knife throwing technique and he reminded me what time it was and what was happening tomorrow. It was almost midnight and the second stage of initiation began early. Calvin helped me put the knives away and I followed him back to the dormitory.

In the dormitory, I was restless as soon as I took off my shoes. I bounced my legs while I sat on my bed and my fingers tapped against the frame. I didn't want to be in the dorms, I wanted to go back to the training room. There was a lot of energy I needed to get rid off and I wanted to go jogging. My shoes called up to me, begging to be put back on.

Jenna was normal again but was being overtly polite. She tried to make small talk and I could do little more than smile and nod at her remarks. Laughing at a joke she made, I pushed my shoes under the bed so they were out of sight and no longer a temptation. I removed my hands from the frame and forcibly held them still in my lap. Right now I needed to calm down and get sleep, I could go running tomorrow.

Calvin wished us sweet dreams and soon Jenna was turned over and sleeping. Laying down, I curled up under the covers and my restless hands ran along the top of the blanket. My stomach was in knots. Sleep would not come soon.

God, I wish I had a cigarette.

Sleepless hours later, the knots had tightened and were lodged in my chest. They were heavy when I breathed and my throat was rigid when I swallowed. Breakfast was a blur. Calvin, Jenna, and Skylar tried to guess what the next stage of initiation would be and when we met up with the other initiates, several more theories were discussed. This was the first time I got a good look at the Dauntless-born initiates, but I was too distracted by fidgeting with the zipper on my jacket to pay attention to them. Ava and Tyler waved to us from across the hall.

There was a mix of excitement and nervous apprehension in the group while we wait in the hallway outside a door. Every so often, Four appeared from inside and escorted one of us into the room.

Unlike the other initiates, I knew what was behind the door. A serum that tested how we emotionally responded to stress. A serum that transported us into one of our fears.

Like the other initiates, I was on the same level of naivety. I had no idea which fear I would experience. But I knew how I needed to react. I would be able to manipulate the simulation, but I needed to submit to the fear and not end my session too early. Jeanine had increased her search for the Divergent and I could not be on her radar.

My name was called relatively soon and I followed Four into the room. He told me to sit in the chair as he prepared the monitor and the serum and I obeyed.

"This might sting." Four warned before he pushed the needle into my neck and pushed down on the plunger. My muscles tensed up as I felt the serum spread throughout my body.

"The serum will go into effect in sixty seconds. " He told me, sounding somewhat bored. "I will be watching the simulation from this monitor. The simulation is activated based on the part of your brain which processes fear. You will be in the serum's hallucination until you slow your breathing and heart rate. Do you understand?"

I nodded and he wished me good luck. I closed my eyes and tried to relax against the chair, my heart beat was already loud in my ears.

When I sensed the atmosphere of the room change, my eyes snapped open.

I was only allowed one breath of air before I was submerged. It was thick. My clothes and shoes were weights against me, dragging me down. It was warm. It caked my throat and ears as I screamed. It was red. All I saw was red as my arms clawed through the liquid around me to propel myself up until my head broke the surface and I hacked up the mouthful of blood I swallowed.

I coughed and I sobbed and the taste stayed in my mouth. I kicked off my shoes and tried to float on my back. An unsettling contrast to the dark red, the white sky was blinding and the blood I floated in extended as far as I could see. Breathing heavily and using my arms to swim, I scanned my surroundings for an escape. I flipped over to my stomach and began swimming in one direction when I was hit from behind by a wave.

It crashed over me and I was pushed under. After several dizzying somersaults, the pressure on my ears told me I was down deep. I swam forward, but the blood only got denser. I was going deeper. I spun around, I didn't know which way is up.

I was going to drown.

I was going to drown.

This thought pounded in my head while I swam in different directions. My lungs screamed for oxygen. I reached a hand forward and finally made contact with the air. I gasped once I was above the surface and frantically searched for another wave. One was approaching in the distance.

I focused on my breathing as I watched the wave get closer. It towered over me, rushing forward at an impossible speed. The closer it got, the clearer I could imagine a life vest around me, lifting me up and protecting me from being pushed under, but I dismissed the thought. I breathed deeply, inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth. If I'm going to get out of here, I needed to control my breathing.

When the wave was almost upon me, I filled my lungs with oxygen and dove. I swam down until I felt the wave pass above me. As soon as it was gone, I swam to the surface. I repeated this process with several more waves and I took deep, even breaths. Eventually the blood and the waves disappeared and I was back in the simulation room with Four.

I wiped my eyes with my hands and coughed. I was relieved to find nothing on my hands and nothing in my lungs. My skin prickled and I jumped out of the chair, eager to leave the room.

"It gets easier." Four said, disconnecting himself from the monitor and standing up. He opened the door for me and I walked out. The door closed behind me a little too loud and I stood outside and listened as Four explained the simulation to the next initiate. I chewed on my nails and numbly walked back to the dormitories. There was no one there.

I made the shower as cold as possible. I trembled against the water and raked my fingernails across my arms, trying to scrape the feeling of blood off my skin. I filled my mouth with water and gargled before I spat it out at my feet.

Shivering at dinner, my appetite disappeared after I watched Calvin squirt a large amount of ketchup on his burger. I couldn't help but gag.

"What?" He asked and I could tell the simulations did a number on him too. He's hunched over and looked exhausted.

"Nothing." I was defensive and I abandoned my food, chewing on my fingernails instead. My fingers are pruney from the shower. Jenna was staring at her food and had yet to take a bite. She was one of the last ones to return from the simulations and was living in her head ever since.

Skylar was quiet too, but he looked content. Before he bit into his second hamburger, he glanced up at me. When he caught me staring, he averted his eyes. He looked normal. He looked afraid of me but he seemed normal. How could he eat? The rest of the initiates are in shambles.

Curiosity got the best of me and I addressed Skylar, trying my best to speak kindly. "How was your simulation?" I ended my question with a smile which confused him.

He swallowed his food and shrugged. "It was okay. It was horrible at first but it didn't last very long."

That only left me with more questions. "What was it about?"

"Snakes," he explained, "I was in a pit of them. There were so many and they were all twisting around my legs..." He shuddered at the thought and took a bite, talking with his mouth full. "But one of the snakes around my ankle turned into a stick and then I was able to beat off the others--"

"--How did the snake turn into a stick?" I interrupted.

"Oh. I don't know, it just did..." Skylar trailed off, uncertain, and I studied him until I feel Calvin pry something from my hands. I hadn't realize I was holding my cup.

"Can we not?" Calvin pleaded, placing the cup out of my reach. "Can we have one peaceful meal?"

I ignored him, I wasn't going to throw anything. At least not right now. "Umm..." I couldn't think of an excuse for leaving so I just swung my legs over the bench and started walking away.

The Bureau's response to my message was almost immediate. In the dark supply closet I read their words off the tablet screen.

"Thank you for the information. We were already aware of the situation and will contact you with further instructions in a few days," it read.

Short and sweet, two sentences was all I got. I was sure it was more than the Bureau thought I deserve. It fucking sucked being kept in the dark. I angrily bit at my fingernails, hissing in pain when I missed a nail and chewed the skin instead. I checked my finger, luckily I didn't break the skin.

Fuming, I turned off the tablet and stashed it away. I slammed the supply room door shut behind me when I left and set off for the stores in The Pit. It was time to be a little proactive. My nails were destroyed and I needed another distraction.

It didn't take me long to find what I needed but the machine made a loud beep when the cashier inputted my purchase. She sighed and slide the package back over the counter to me.

"Sorry, dear. You don't have enough points this month. Come back next week." She said, motioning for the next person in line to come forward.

Disheartened, I hesitated to put the cigarettes back on the shelf. I thought about stealing them, but there were cameras everywhere and I was not sure what the penalty for theft entails. I fumbled with the package, I shouldn't have gotten that stupid tattoo and used up all my points.

Returning to the dining hall, I took a seat next to my friends and Skylar. Calvin and Jenna were bickering about something. They made no comment at my absence and I took a bite of my food. It had no taste and I chewed mechanically. It was difficult to swallow and I washed it down with a lot of water.

Taking another bite, I tapped my fingers on the table and sighed. Everyone was being so boring. I tried not to look at Skylar; all I wanted to do was ask him more questions. But Jenna would enjoy that, the drama got her too excited, and I didn't want to get mad at her again.

"Do any of you guys have..." I trailed off, I knew the answer before I even finished the question. "Nevermind." I stood up and started wandering away again. Or maybe I did have a destination, I quickened my pace and accidentally brushed against Max as he was leaving the table.

I apologized and he smiled at me. "No problem, Olivia."

My voice caught the attention of someone at the table and his blue eyes flashed up to me. I was suddenly nervous, but I sat across from him and we were alone. He spoke first.

"Hmm, I could have sworn you were cut."

"Not yet." When I smiled at him, he leaned forward and rested his folded arms on the table.

"Is there something you need? There's somewhere I have to be." His face and voice were hard and if I didn't know better, I would have said that he was annoyed by me. But there was a hint of a smile on his lips that I learned to notice.

"Actually... yes." I matched his position, leaning forward on my arms so I didn't have to speak my request loud enough for others to hear. "Can I, uhh, have a cigarette?"

Eric's smile fully developed. He smirked and reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He opened it, grabbed one, and offered it to me across the table. I reached out to take it, but he drew back before my fingers could close around it.

"Is that all? Are you sure you only want a cigarette?"

"If I could get a couple, that would be great. I tried to buy some, but I've used up all my points for the month." I put my hand out again. The cigarettes were so close I could almost taste them. The pack was practically full, surely he could spare more than one.

Thankfully, he complied and I soon had a handful. Delighted, I carefully arranged them in my hands and remembered something else.

"Oh! Do you have an extra lighter?"

He grabbed the lighter from his jacket and when I reached for it, he shook his head. "It's my only one. You can't have it."

"That's okay, I'm sure I can find someone else..." I stood up and turned to leave, satisfied, when I felt the cigarettes being taken out of my hand.

"HEY!" I turned back around, completely outraged. Eric was starting to put my cigarettes back in the package.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Now that I think about it, initiates shouldn't be smoking. They're bad for you." He then had the audacity to wink at me and I thought about breaking his nose again. Shame, the bruises on his face were almost healed.

"You--" I racked my brain for an appropriate insult. I just wanted a goddamn cigarette.

He glanced up to me. "Are you sure you want to finish that sentence?" His question was more of a warning and I bit back a response. Eric stored the cigarettes back in his jacket and he scratched at the corner of his mouth with his thumb while he grinned up at me.

"Tell you what," he continued, "while I can't condone an initiate smoking, I may allow it if it was done under adult supervision."

"Great." I commented sarcastically, sitting back down. "You're an adult, can I smoke one now?"

He stood up, adjusting his jacket. "Sure, but I'm expected somewhere. So you'll have to come along."

"Where?"

"I'll explain on the way, we're already late."

Eric didn't give me any time to respond before he rushed off. I jumped up after him and followed him out of the dining room. I half-walked, half-jogged to keep up with his long strides and he swiped what must have been an ID badge on a scanner outside a door. It beeped and we entered the room. There were rows and rows of uniforms along the walls.

He grabbed a jacket off a hanger and threw it to me.

"Put it on."

I complied, shrugging it on. The jacket was huge and I had to roll up the sleeves several times before I started fumbling with the zipper. Eric grabbed a hat off a shelf and put it on my head.

"Cover up your hair," he said, knocking my hands out of the way to help with the zipper.

"Where are we going?" I gathered up my hair and stored it under the black cap while he zipped the jacket up in one motion.

"Somewhere where you need to blend in."

We left the room and set off again, entering The Pit and traveling down a different tunnel.

"Why?"

"Initiates aren't allowed outside the compound unless it's on official business."

"We're going outside?"

He must have heard the eagerness in my voice because he looked down at me and raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"Don't get too excited. I know it may seem like you're a prisoner right now, but I'm sure you'll get sick of being outside. Patrolling the fence can get brutal, the summers are hot and the winters are cold."

I scoffed at his assumption that I would rank low and have to be a guard on the fence.

"I'm actually going to be taking your job. So I suggest you enjoy everything while you can, but I'm sure working in the cafeteria won't be too bad." I shot back.

He laughed and opened another door, holding it open so I could enter first.

The room looked familiar, probably because I was here two days ago. Most of the vehicles were gone and the doors are open, letting the cool evening air in. Outside, a truck idled, the back seat door slightly ajar.

Eric entered the room behind me, placing a hand on my back to lead me forward. I looked up to the security camera. Its familiar red light blinked down at me.

We jogged to the truck and he helped me up before he climbed in after me. Although there were three seats, Eric sat in the middle and I was squished between him and the door. The two other people in the front seats were quiet while we got situated.

When the driver idled for a second longer, Eric snapped out, "Let's go!" and the truck lurched forward. We were soon traveling down a broken pavement road, I could see the sun beginning to set between the buildings.

I tapped Eric on the arm and he leaned forward so I could whisper in his ear. It felt awkward to talk with other people in the car.

"Are we going on a mission?"

"No," he whispered back.

"So I have been cut? You're taking me into the city to live with the factionless?"

"Yup, you've been causing too much trouble. You keep beating up the other initiates and asking for cigarettes from your trainers." His breath was hot on my neck and I almost shivered.

I fought back a smile and rolled my eyes, settling back against the seat and looking out the window. Eric was talking to the guys up front, giving what sounded like both a lecture and instructions to where we were going. They responded with simple "yes, sir's" and "no, sir's." I noticed Eric's hand was resting on my knee.

We were heading to Amity but the truck stopped halfway there, next to open fields of nothing but dirt. Several other vehicles were parked here as well, their headlights illuminating the field and the different groups of people standing around. As the driver shifted into park, Eric squeezed my leg.

"Stay with these guys," he said, referencing the two up front, "and try not to draw attention to yourself."

Eric opened the door on his side and jumped out, not waiting for me. I slid out of the truck and shut the door behind me. Adjusting my hat, I stood next to the driver. We were wearing the same jacket. In fact, with the exception of the Dauntless leaders and Erudite, I was wearing the same jacket as everyone here. Camouflage.

We were the last to arrive. Briefcases and metal containers were brought out of vehicles and big, black guns were passed around. I overheard a Erudite describe their features. They were a new design that included enhanced night vision. Dauntless tested them out, adjusting the settings on the scope and aiming them out into the dark, abrupt popping sounds of gunfire filled the night air. They looked sick as fuck, I wanted to shoot one.

Another container was opened, and the night vision guns were quickly forgotten once it was discovered that these new guns launched grenades at incredible distances. After several jarring explosions, Max confiscated the guns before there was an accident and told everyone that Erudite was already planning a demonstration. One metal container was chosen from the pile by a group of Erudites and they carried it off into the distance. They came back after a few minutes with a remote control.

I had been leaning against the truck, amused, as I watched Dauntless play with their new toys. I looked for Jeanine, I suspected she might be here with Erudite, but I didn't see her. I was also keeping an eye out for Eric. He was calm and collected, the opposite of the other Dauntless members, and helped Max collect the grenade launchers. Chastising those who had fired their guns too close to where we were parked, I could hear his stern voice and threats from where I stood. The next reckless dipshit who wanted to show off would be walking back to the compound.

Erudite announced when they were ready and everyone quieted down. Off in the distance, after a countdown, there was an explosion.

"Holy shit!" I couldn't help but softly exclaim. The fireball filled the night air and my eyes had to readjust after it burned out. A group departed to where the explosion had been and I was sure there was a crater in the ground. They carefully carried back the charred remains of their device and Max ended the meeting by ordering Dauntless to load the new weapons into our vehicles.

"Quit standing around." Max gestured between where we stood and to where the briefcases were stacked. "Come on, let's move!"

Unsure, I followed the lead of the guy who drove us here and helped him pick up a case of guns. It was heavy and we struggled to lift it into the back to the truck. When the back was full, I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Max and Eric strolled over, approving our work.

"Good job, gentlemen. When you get back to the compound, store the guns in the garage. We'll move them to the weapon room tomorrow morning," Max dismissed us.

"Yes, sir." My companions responded simultaneously and I quickly added my response onto the end of theirs.

"Yes, sir." My voice was quiet and I was not sure Max heard me because he was already walking away. But Eric heard me and he smirked as he held the truck door open for me.

"'Sir'?" He said incredulously. "You've never called me 'sir'."

I climbed inside and fastened my seat belt. "Max is a Dauntless leader."

"So am I." He sat in the middle seat again.

"Huh. I guess I forgot."

He chuckled and the truck was soon on the main road back to Dauntless and his hand was back on my knee. I wasn't sure if I minded.

The road was just as bumpy back to Dauntless and I watched the street lamps whiz by and listened to the modulation of Eric's voice as he spoke to the driver. They were discussing the factionless uprisings, nothing I hadn't heard or read before.

When the truck pulled into the Dauntless garage, Eric gave me a cigarette. Again, we were the last to arrive, the garage was full of cars but everyone must already be inside. We stood outside the garage and he supervised the unloading of crates. The cigarette wasn't as satisfying as I thought it was going to be. I resisted the urge to cough after each inhale, I was much more interested in the guns we picked up.

Before the last case was carried away, Eric opened it and handed me a gun. I gave him my cigarette in return and he took a few puffs as I aimed the gun out into the darkness, using the night-vision scope to scan the surrounding buildings.

I looked back to him. "Can I shoot it?"

"Sure." He came to stand behind me, pointing to a rusted street sign down the street. "See if you can hit that."

Raising the gun back up and switching the safety off, I was ready to fire but Eric stopped me. Adjusting my posture, he kicked my feet further apart and rotated my shoulders.

"It's got a hell of a recoil." He explained, placing a hand against my shoulder blade to steady me. The gun was loud and I was pushed back against him. Looking through the scope, I saw where my bullet passed through the sign, there was a hole directly in the center of the "O".

Excited, I smiled up at him. "This gun is awesome!"

He took a drag and blew the smoke in my face. "Yeah, I thought you would like it." He handed me back my cigarette and I gave him the gun.

He raised the gun, aimed, fired four quick shots, and then we switched again. I looked through the scope to see additional holes in the sign. They aligned with the border of the white letter. One above, one below, one to the left, and one to the right. Perfect spacing.

"Impressive." I said before I pulled the trigger five times. I added a second hole to the left of the first one, and four others in a uneven semi circle underneath. A somewhat deformed smiley face. After surveying my work, Eric stomped the cigarette underneath his shoe, unloaded the rest of the bullets from the gun, and stored them back in the crate.

"It's late. I have to be up early tomorrow, and you have simulations."

The waves came back to me and I shuddered. I would rather not go through that again. I followed Eric out of the garage and he turned off the lights before we exited. Our footsteps echoed in the tunnel we traveled down.

"So what was it?" His question bounced off the walls.

"What was what?"

"Your simulation."

"Oh. I was drowning."

"That's a common one."

"I was drowning in blood."

That caused him to pause. "Why?" He asked.

I shrugged and scratched my arm. "I don't know."

"Simulations are based off of fear. Are you afraid of blood?"

I hesitated. "I-I don't think so."

He scoffed, "I'll take that as a yes."

We parted ways at a fork in the tunnel. "The dorms are down there and to the left," Eric pointed down the path but stopped me with an arm when I moved forward.

"I need this back." He took the hat off my head and my hair fell across my shoulders. My face grew warm as he got close enough to quickly undo the zipper to my jacket and he slid it off my shoulders and down my arms. I smelled the cigarette smoke on him. Cold air hit my bare arms.

He folded the jacket up but didn't move away, I looked up and his eyes bore into mine. He tilted his head to the side. "I hope it goes without saying that you shouldn't tell anybody what you saw tonight, your little friends don't need to know," he said.

"Of course," I replied, even though I had already formulated what I would send to The Bureau. It wasn't unusual for Erudite to give Dauntless new weapons, but it was strange that the exchange happened in fields outside Amity at night.

The corner of his mouth moved up to a smile and his eyes flickered down to my mouth and then back up to my eyes. "If you need another cigarette, you know where to find me. Goodnight."

Then Eric left, traveling down the opposite tunnel and I was abruptly left alone with forming goosebumps.

"Goodnight," I called after him, unsure if he heard me.

The waves made a reappearance in my next simulation. A tidal wave towered over the buildings of the city, threatening to crash down at any moment. I ran through the broken pavement streets, trying to find somewhere to hide, somewhere to escape. Crowds of people pushed against me, moving in the wrong direction. I screamed for them to follow me to safety but they ignored my pleas. Bumping into me, they raced straight into danger. Eventually I stopped. Sinking to the ground, I curled in a ball. Trying to breathe deeply and control my heart beat, I was kicked and stomped on by people running passed.

Soon, but not as soon as I would have liked, the simulation disappeared and I was back to reality with Four. He congratulated me on my time improvements and I was ushered out the door. I lingered outside the simulation room for a few minutes before I took a seat against the wall several feet down the tunnel. There was someone I had to talk to.

I had gotten up early this morning, to write to The Bureau and to clear my head before today's simulation. There was already a message on the tablet. Its contents provided instructions on the best way to establish contact with discovered Divergents and it gave permission for me to start being honest with Skylar. Jeanine had kept an eye on Skylar since he transferred out of Erudite and The Bureau wanted to get to him before Jeanine could form a plan. The Bureau was preparing for an extraction in a couple days and although talking to Skylar was the last thing I wanted to do, I needed to prepare him for what was to come.

I waited for over an hour until Skylar finished his simulation and came out of the door. He jumped when I said his name, he didn't expect me to be lurking in the shadows.

"Skylar!" I stood up and jogged forward to meet him. "Wait up!"

"Oh. Hey, Olivia." He didn't wait for me. He kept walking to the dorms, only giving me a glance over the shoulder.

"How was your simulation?" I called out.

"Fine."

I huffed and quickened my pace to catch up to him. "Can we talk for a second?"

He wasn't slowing down so I grabbed ahold of his arm to keep him in place. He must have thought I was still mad at him. "I'm not going to hit you." I promised. "I just want to talk."

I pulled him further into the darkness of the abandoned tunnel, our conversation needed to be private. He tried to slip out of my grasp.

"Look, Eric made me promise I wouldn't--"

I interrupted him and got right the point. "What were the results for your aptitude test?"

He stopped struggling and his eyes widened at my question. "Dauntless," he said.

I shook my head, dismissing his answer, and repeated my question. "What faction did you get for your aptitude test?"

"Dauntless." He repeated.

"Listen." I got closer to Skylar, searching his face. I tried not to stare at the hickey on his neck. The one I gave him. "You can tell me the truth, I'm only trying to help you."

It took time but eventually I saw something in him break. He sighed before he began his admission. "My results were... inconclusive."  
I nodded, relieved at the truth but scared at what was to come. "There's a lot we have to discuss. You're in more danger than you think," I said.


End file.
